'If Fred Got Two Beatings Per Day…' Homework Asks <CITE id=yui_3_3_0_18_1326039168254341 class="byline vcard">By Olivia Katrandjian | ABC News – <ABBR title=2012-01-07T23:07:17Z>17 hrs ago</ABBR></CITE> 'If Fred Got Two Beatings Per Day…' Homework Asks (ABC News) <!-- yog-5u --> Third graders in in Gwinnett County, Ga., were given math homework Wednesday that asked questions about slavery and beatings. Christopher Braxton told ABC News affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta that he couldn't believe the assignment his 8-year-old son brought home from of Beaver Ridge Elementary school in Norcross. "It kind of blew me away," Braxton said. "Do you see what I see? Do you really see what I see? He's not answering this question." The question read, "Each tree had 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?" Another math problem read, "If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week?" Another question asked how many baskets of cotton Frederick filled. "I was furious at that point," Braxton said. "This outrages me because it just lets me know that there's still racists," said Stephanie Jones, whose child is a student at the school. "Something like that shouldn't be imbedded into a kid of the third, fourth, fifth, any grade," parent Terrance Barnett told WSB-TV. "I'm having to explain to my 8-year-old why slavery or slaves or beatings are in a math problem. That hurts." "In this one, the teachers were trying to do a cross-curricular activity," Gwinnett County school district spokeswoman Sloan Roach said. Roach said the teachers were attempting to incorporate social studies into math problems. "We understand that there are concerns about these questions, and we agree that these questions were not appropriate," she said.
Or the more precise answer could be Or the more precise answer could be "one seventh of the total number of trees' oranges picked . The question's framer should get a D- for poor grammatical construction for using the word "much" as an adverb, denoting proportional value instead of the word "many" denoting a numerical value. The distinction is subtle but as in so many things subtleties can result in "much" confusion. Looking at the statement as printed, the question is very ambiguous and relies on assumptions that may not be true. i.e. that the total number of oranges on each tree were picked. The way the question is framed...it is conceivable that only one orange was picked by each slave per tree, which would still result in the statement "If eight slaves pick them equally" being true. my answer would be. Assuming that the total number of oranges on each tree were picked propotionally equally by the gang of 8 slaves, each slave would pick one seventh of the total crop of oranges on each tree multiplied by the total number of trees picked. The other problem I have with the question as framed in the textbook is the meaning of the word "them" in the statement "If eight slaves pick them equally" it is not clear whether "them" relates to trees, oranges, or both trees and oranges....in each case the numerical value may have a different result. Of course the slaves might be picking scabs in which case the question becomes an industrial relations question rather than an arithmetic or social studies question. All in all, the writers of this textbook should go back to grade school to learn basic grammar, or to university to learn elementary logic. On quite a different tack, all the guilt ridden breast beating concerning references to slavery might have been saved if oranges were substituted for dates, and the question set in biblical Judea. That way, the cross curricula agenda could remain intact, no embarrasing discussion of slavery in the USA need be broached, and some theists can feel happy that God's books get a bit of airplay in an increasingly secular school system.
Ahh, the true answer is how many white bread cracker loving educational employees will not be collecting their pensions. Tenure be damned.