Mother says school work sheet is racist

[The Straight Story]

Mother says school work sheet is racist


Lenape Middle School principal Nick Chubb said administrators are investigating the matter.

When she was helping her son with his homework Saturday night, a Central Bucks mother noticed something that surprised and shocked her.

"I couldn't understand what I was looking at," said the woman, whose identity the newspaper has agreed not to disclose.

It was a work sheet called "Solving Equations using Multiplication and Division!" and it featured a photo of a black man wearing a straw hat, shirt and suspenders, with his mostly toothless mouth wide open. As if to underscore the man's stupidity, at the bottom of the picture was written, "No wai!!!"

The mother learned that her son, the only black student in his eighth-grade pre-algebra class at Lenape Middle School, was teased by another student when the assignment was distributed.



http://tinyurl.com/ydyahcm

[Brickbat]

1. I'd be pissed and would complain, too.

[chill_wind]

21. I would be seeking that teacher's removal.

[tonysam]

36. That's a little bit over the top.

I doubt any principal is going to fire a teacher over a worksheet. However a written reprimand is appropriate.

[quiet.american]

38. And I'd be with you on that 100%. nt

[CurtEastPoint]

2. Yep, I would agree. Even if you don't think it is, it certainly has little educational value, if any

What were they thinking?

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. OMG

Wrong on so many levels.

[Lint Head]

4. Probably Neil Bush's education materials company supplied it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2226431

:dem:

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. The teacher made the worksheet himself

[The Doctor.]

8. And thought it was funny, no doubt.

Now watch how the right talks about people 'not having a sense of humor'.

[chill_wind]

6. !!

[rurallib]

7. Amazing that the teacher is so clueless

That picture is totally inappropriate anyplace, anytime.
I am guessing the teacher will have the same look on his face when he is sent packing.

[surrealAmerican]

10. The picture would be appropriate in a discussion about racism ...

... but solving equations? That teacher has some explaining to do.

[BlooInBloo]

63. There's nothing remotely clueless about it. It's perfectly deliberate.

[Burma Jones]

9. Ahhh, Pennsylvania......

Seems as though there have been a few racially tinged stories coming out of Pennsyltucky in the last few days. A cross Burning, the bankruptcy of that Swimming Pool in the news last summer and now this.

This teacher needs to be insensitively given sensitivity training......

[MadrasT]

62. "Pennsyltucky"

I don't care who you are, that's funny. :toast:

I remember James Carville describing PA once as "Philadelphia on one side, Pittsburgh on the other... with Alabama in between." :rofl:


(Disclaimer: I am a 4th generation Pennsylvanian.)

[Burma Jones]

84. Pennsyltucky includes a big chunk of Maryland too......

And I'm a Murrlynder

[daleanime]

11. Idiots.

:argh:

[daleanime]

12. ooops

:blush:

[Odin2005]

13. That is just WRONG!

:puke:

[cali]

14. Dear Mr. Principal: There is NOTHING TO FUCKING INVESTIGATE HERE.

This is as disgusting a piece of blatantly racist material as you could find.

[chill_wind]

20. +1. The long and the short of it.

eom

[Taverner]

37. Wow - we agree on something

:fistbump:

[rgbecker]

15. I can't wait to hear the teacher's explanation. WTF?

[LibertyLover]

16. Oh dear Goddess - that is so wrong

that I can't really find polite words to describe my disgust. My daughter is adopted from China and if she came home with something like this in her homework folder you had better believe I'd be on the phone to her principal. What in the hell is wrong with some people? Were they, as my mom liked to say, raised in a barn?

[marshall]

17. She could have put that phrase on any photograph

She said she chose that photograph because it had a phrase (albeit misspelled) that her students often use.

Doesn't she know that she can easily put that phrase on anything? And she could spell it properly--I doubt that many of the kids even understood what it was saying.

[bermudat]

18. A teacher didn't know this image was wrong? Pull his teaching license.

[Mari333]

19. holy shit!!!

please tell me this isnt 1950.

[phasma ex machina]

52. 1950? Try 1850. nt

[Ichingcarpenter]

22. UPDATE from the school board

A standing-room-only crowd packed the district's school board meeting Tuesday night asking how officials plan to deal with what some parents are calling a racist cartoon.

The offense goes far beyond middle school walls, Lynn Canty of Buckingham told the board.

"It's not just a Lenape issue. This issue is a much bigger issue," said, Canty, a mother of three young children. "I need to know that every young teacher will receive sensitivity training. They need to know there is a line you don't cross. It's a lesson that should send a message across Bucks County."

Allison Dukes of Jamison was offended by the cartoon, but pleased at how quickly Lenape Middle School principal Nick Chubb worked to handle the issue.

"I was equally disgusted when I saw the picture. I have an African-American son that attends Lenape," said Dukes, who pushed for district-wide diversity training. "I've encountered racial issues at other schools as well."

Central Bucks administrators met Tuesday afternoon with representatives from the NAACP, principal Chubb

and the parents of the boy.

The NAACP and the boy's parents agreed that they would like to handle the matter privately, said school board President Stephen Corr.

"We are equally offended and saddened by what we saw in the paper," he said. "There are issues that we recognize as a problem here."

Math teacher Matthew Curran made a mistake, said Corr.

"He did not appreciate the negative implication of what he had put on that paper. He made a mistake and I hope we'll give him a second chance on that," said Corr.

"This is a very young teacher who I think made a mistake here, but by all accounts he is an excellent teacher."

On Monday, school district spokeswoman Karen Smith said Curran frequently uses photos and other illustrations on his work sheets to engage the students.

Curran reported, through Smith, that he found the image by doing a Google Images search for the phrase "multiply and divide."

"I chose it because it said 'no way,' which is a comment my students make when I require them to show each calculation," he wrote in an e-mail. "I had no idea that I might offend anyone. I am very sorry for any distress that this has caused my students and the community."

The district has planned sensitivity training for the middle school's staff and students along with follow-up meetings with the NACCP and the boy's parents next month.

But parents and students deserve more than a few closed-door meetings, said John Wilson of Furlong.

"This shouldn't be a private issue. This is a community issue. I hope you realize you all will be judged by this. I'm angry and I am upset, and I ask that you take action on this," he said.

"This happened in a public school, one that everyone here pays taxes for, and I think we should have a dialogue."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33503369/ns/local_news-delaware_valley_panj/

[cali]

24. Oh, so it never entered the asswipe teacher's dense head that the picture could be

offensive? Give him another chance? I say get the racist fuckwad out of the classroom. That he's young is no excuse at all.

[AlecBGreen]

40. racism is funny like that

"Oh, so it never entered the asswipe teacher's dense head that the picture could be offensive?"

obviously not. i doubt a person would do this to intentionally offend someone

[phasma ex machina]

53. Where does one even FIND such "cartoons?" The local KKK kiosk? nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

67. "...deal with what some parents are calling a racist cartoon."

Weasel much?

[sinkingfeeling]

23. Are we back in 1950? Teacher is using that same lame excuse as others have:

"I chose it because it said 'no way,' which is a comment my students make when I require them to show each calculation," he wrote in an e-mail. "I had no idea that I might offend anyone. I am very sorry for any distress that this has caused my students and the community."

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/the_intelligencer/the_intelligencer_news_details/article/92/2009/october/27/mother-says-school-work-sheet-is-racist.html

School district spokeswoman Karen Smith said the math teacher, Matthew Curran, frequently uses photos and other illustrations on his work sheets to engage the students.

Curran reported, through Smith, that he found the image by doing a Google Images search for the phrase "multiply and divide."

When the assignment was handed out to the class, several students expressed their disapproval of the picture, according to the NAACP. But the teacher told them to do the work anyway, according to the boy's mother.

[-..__...]

25. That pic is a minor Internet meme...

I've seen it many times with different captions, sometimes Photoshopped into different surroundings/situations.

If there's any problem... it's with the people that over analyze the most trivial things and get all worked up over it.

[cali]

28. are you fucking kidding? A teacher used that picture in a classroom

it's a classically racist image and there was only one black kid in the class, which makes the piece of shit teacher's action even worse.

[Raineyb]

32. Are you for fucking real?

Analyze? There's really no need to analyze a damn thing. This picture hasn't a damn thing to do with multiplying or dividing unless you're trying to come up with a percentage of teeth he still has which is still offensive and isn't an equation on the page so that justification is a massive fail. The is no fucking good reason for this picture to be on a worksheet that has to do with pre-algebra.

The problem is people like you ignore racism so they don't have to actually do anything about it not with those who point it out.

Idiot.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

35. Indeed it is an internet meme.

Usually seen in context of the black homeless guy saying "you gonna get raped," the surprised black guy catching a watermelon, and the happy black guy with chicken fingers saying "oh chicken, you so crazy."

Maybe you haven't figured it out yet, but 4chan is particularly racist.

[Ignis]

59. 4chan: Premier source for elementary classroom art.

:crazy:

What the hell was this teacher thinking? And what other 4chan "artifacts" are in this teacher's browser cache?

[Rhythm]

70. Seen all of the same images in the comments at FARK n/t

[anigbrowl]

44. Yeah, and it's a racist one

Racists come to 4chan and post that to troll people. If the teacher wanted to add some 4chan-type humor (which I don't think is appropriate for 6th graders to begin with) then he could have reached for a LOLcat picture or something. In short, epic fucking fail.

[fishwax]

48. "Internet meme" and "racist" aren't mutually exclusive

[jdp349]

50. people from the older generation don't understand

they see a racist image because of what they've experienced and grew up dealing with

but for 80's and 90's children we mostly just see picture of a funny looking guy, his race is irrelevant.

The disconnect is frustrating sometimes.

[chill_wind]

54. The child's mother doesn't sound that "old" to me.

She found it plenty offensive. I don't think that one will fly.

[EstimatedProphet]

72. Or it could be a bunch of you are racist. There's always that possibility.

[TCJ70]

76. It's racist to see a guy making...

...a weird face in that photo? I don't think so. Why does it HAVE to be racist?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

68. Holy. Fucking. Crap.

Are you for real?

[smalll]

79. More scumbaggery from the geeks --

It reminds me of the whole "teabagging" thing. When that word first started appearing, most of us didn't know what it meant. I had a vague feeling that it was something dirty, but had no idea beyond that. But then I remember reading here on DU from some "gamer" that, oh yeah, "gamers" ALL know what it means -- because they use it as a standard insult that they sling back and forth at each other over the intertubes as they decapitate each others' orcs or whatever the hell violent game they are playing at the moment.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

82. You do have a fixation on the "evil geeks", don't you?

What happened? Did a geek beat you up? Did your girlfriend dumped you for one? Was a sibling of yours a geek and you feel your parents loved him/her more?

[PVnRT]

26. This is why picking up internet memes from 4chan to use in real life is a bad idea

[Berry Cool]

29. Yeah, really!!!!

If she wanted to use "NO WAI!!" as a slogan, she could have put it on a lolcat, looking surprised. No one's going to get offended by a picture of a cute cat looking surprised. That would have been the sensible way to go. Not using a half-toothless black man!!! Sheesh!!!!

[PVnRT]

34. Or use the O RLY? owl

[LisaM]

42. It was a male teacher, n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

69. This is the correct answer. -nt

[TheMightyFavog]

45. Did this teacher really think that using a meme from 4chan's /b/ (aka the asshole of the Internet)..

Was a good idea?

I say fire him for epic-level stupidity.

[Ignis]

60. Sauce?

:hide:

[TCJ70]

27. I think the kid that made fun of the other student needs more...

...attention than the teacher. I don't see what the big deal is here. It's a picture that was used to express disbelief that multiplication and division are possible in a lolcats sort of way.

[The Midway Rebel]

30. Yes, let us fire a good young math teacher because they have poor taste in humor.

NOT!

Some who decry the lynch mob mentality on other threads seem to be leading a lynch mob on this one . Go figure. Count me in with the dissenters on this one.

Bad taste, maybe culturally insensitve, mildly offensive to some but, unlikely worth firing somebody over.

[AlecBGreen]

39. +1

Bad taste, maybe culturally insensitve, mildly offensive to some but, unlikely worth firing somebody over.

[MichiganVote]

65. +1

[EstimatedProphet]

74. You really don't see that this goes past poor taste?

[smalll]

81. I guess he or she doesn't, because that blatantly racist pic happens to come from...

geeks on the 'tubes. It's an "internet meme" -- and anything they do is "OK." :eyes:

[Raineyb]

31. WTF?

What year is this?

Seriously what the fuck year is this?

:wtf:

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[EstimatedProphet]

73. I don't think so Grovelbot. Too many raists here.

[TexasObserver]

41. That's the kind of photo right wingers email endlessly.

I have one right wing acquaintance whose every excess I allow in my in-box, so I can keep track of what they say and do. All others I've already stopped from sending me their racist crap.

The photo this teacher used is offensive when used in the class room. On a comedy show, it might not be, depending on context.

[LisaM]

43. Maybe - dare I suggest it - eighth graders could learn math without photos?

Just saying.

[LeftinOH]

46. Up next: Introduction to Physics (illustrated with 'goatse' image).

[jdp349]

51. Endothermic and Exothermic reactions

[Catherine Vincent]

47. This teacher needs to be kicked to the curb!

What an ignorant fool!

[Brewman_Jax]

49. The fact that the teacher thought this was appropriate

doesn't speak highly of the teacher's judgement. Add to that the fact that one of the students felt the need to tease the ONLY black student in the class over it says a lot about our culture.

[Gwendolyn]

55. I grew up ignorant of lots of racism...

We traveled for my dad's work and the schools I went to were filled with kids from all over the ends of the earth. And I would say that's a very racist, classist, just awful depiction. And even if it's an inside joke of some kind aka "hippo man" I still think it's inappropriate.

[Taitertots]

56. No one can show pictures of people making silly faces?

Is it only racism when a white person shows a picture of a black person making a silly face?

[beyond cynical]

57. That's stupid--not racist.

[cali]

58. no, it's racist. it's in a long and disgraceful line of racist images of the black man as

the shuffling fool.

[chill_wind]

64. It's both.

[Sabriel]

61. If I were that administrator, I'd want to see this guy's other sheets, too.

Especially the one with the hood attached.

[Tigress DEM]

78. rofl --- knew that was the one you meant.

[Dorian Gray]

66. Completely

offensive and inappropriate.

[Shell Beau]

71. How can that picture be anything but offensive?

Wow. Wow. Wow.

I don't care if you are the dumbest person on the planet and have been sitting under a rock for the past 20 years, that picture is so obviously offensive and has absolutely nothing to do with math!! Now if this were a course in racial prejudices, then I could understand the pic being used. But for MATH!!!????!!!! Or anything else????

[proud patriot]

75. I'd be livid if my son brought that home

I can't imagine how they must feel ..

[Tigress DEM]

77. No shit. nt

[ohheckyeah]

80. Ok, I have to ask.

What the hell is wai?

and yes, it's racist and offensive.

[jgraz]

83. Holy shit. I thought this was a joke.

What decade are we living in? 1930?