One teacher plus two math questions about slavery equals big mistake

OK, math teachers. There are thousands of things you could ask your students to count in word problems, like apples or pandas or the number of Starbucks in your neighborhood. Dead slaves shouldn’t be one of them. Jane Youn, a New York City elementary school teacher, is learning that the hard way. She's under fire for an assignment that included questions about beating slaves and calculating how many slaves died on a ship. She reportedly asked the students to write their own questions — combining math with a lesson on slavery — but didn’t remove the offensive ones. (A second teacher refused to assign the same worksheet.) “This is obviously unacceptable, and we will take appropriate disciplinary action against these teachers,” a Department of Education spokesperson said. [Source]

Click to see more on msnNOW.com, updated 24 hours a day.