Parents are outraged after 139 fourth grade students in Georgia were given a math problem referencing slavery, WAGA-TV reports.
Christopher Jackson, the parent of a 9-year-old at the school, told the station his son brought home the offensive extra-credit question with his homework.
“A plantation owner had 100 slaves,” the question read, according to the station. “If three-fifths of them are counted for representation, how many slaves will be counted?”
While parents told WAGA they were offended by the question, a school spokesperson said the question was meant to educate students on both social studies and math, and that the teacher would not be punished.
The incident is reminiscent of a similar controversy at another Georgia school that erupted in January. Parents at Beaver Ridge Elementary School in Norcross, Ga., were outraged after students were sent home with math word problems using explicit examples of slavery.
“Each tree had 56 oranges,” the first question starts. “If 8 slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?”
The next question went a step further, referencing violence.
“If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in 1 week?”
In response to the controversy and investigation that followed, one teacher resigned from the school district.
Later that month, Camp Creek Elementary Scchool in Lilburn, Ga., stirred similar emotions after a third grade student told her mother about a “slave game” students were allegedly instructed to play.
“It was kind of like tag, but we were slaves and slave catchers,” mother Ericka Lasley said, according to WSB-TV.
After an investigation, the school district determined the game was student-initiated, and no teachers were punished as a result.
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