Slavery is Bad. No Exceptions.

It has become news that an Atlanta teacher resigned after an investigation over third-grade students being assigned math homework with slavery related word problems. Our questions is – why isn’t it news that these teachers were not fired?   The investigation by Gwinnett County schools concluded into four teachers who gave out these assignments at Beaver Ride Elementary.  Gwinnett County schools spokeswoman Sloan Roach said that the school system accepted the resignation of one teacher but declined to elaborate on the rest.

One of the problems assigned to third graders read: ”Each tree has 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?”

Another was: “If Frederick got two beatings each day, how many beatings did he get in one week?” 

Slavery Still Exists Today

The often forgotten part about slavery is that it still exists today.  There are stories about labor trafficking where women and men are brought into this country with fake promises and told that they will be able to get jobs to suppor their families back home.  Instead, they are forced to work off “debt” and “earn their freedom,” a freedom that never comes.  There are children and women that are forced into prostitution – almost daily – and are forced to do slave work for pimps that beat them mercilessly and trade them.  Watch the documentary Very Young Girls to get an idea of what these people go through everyday.  Children should not be mathematically analyzing how many beatings these people get on a daily basis.  They should be taught to help fight slavery.

The History of Slavery Has Not Been Forgotten 

Slavery in this country is not a lightly taken subject.  There are descendants of once-slaves that are living today; and there are people that were very recently freed from modern day slavery – or are still victims of modern day slavery – such as sex trafficking, labor trafficking and more.  There are people in this country that suffered in unimaginable ways in internment camps and families that survived death camps in World War II.

There are people that discover, as they go through their ancestral trees, that there are is no information on their families after a certain individual – because that individual was a slave who was brought over, and had his/her entire history erased in the inhumane act of selling another being. There are others that find out that their history began in this country through a rape – a “master” raping the slave.  It is not something that is taken lightly; and if anyone has been in that situation, or has known anyone that gets such news you know that it is devastating.  Regardless of how great things may be today.

Should those individuals and their children be taught how many oranges their ancestors had to pick before they were beaten?  No.  They should be taught that the slave owners were wrong, and that slavery should not be allowed ever again.

Parents of the affected students and the NAACP began protesting and demanding that the teachers involved be fired. Following parent outcry and national attention, Gwinnett Schools district officials began investigation the incident and Roach stated that the questions were “inappropriate” and the investigation would seek to ensure that teachers are creating assignments that are “appropriate and respective,” according to ABC News.

The problem is that this is not an issue of being appropriate and “respective.”   It’s actually an issue of teaching children that slavery is commonplace enough that it is discussed as condoned behavior in math problems; it also teaches third-grade children that slavery is “ok.”  That it is a matter to be accepted and not questioned; and that of course, slaves get beatings – instead of empathizing or stopping it, we should calculate how many times they got those beatings.

It is baffling that schools would allow this to occur – and it is shocking that the action by the school system was not as swift and strong as it should be.  What does this teach our children?  That making light of slavery is okay; you can just quit your job after you’ve offended an entire nation.

- Editorial Team, BroadStreet Times