‘Racist’ Math Test: Cocaine, Crack And Prostitution Questions Get Alabama Middle School Teacher Suspended

Teachers often try to relate to their students by framing curriculum in a way they can understand. Instead of counting up apples and oranges — what student is going to sit around actually counting fruit in their spare time? — try using trading cards, Beanie Babies, Angry Birds or anything kids like.

Some teachers take it much too far.

A middle school teacher in Mobile, Alabama, has been suspended from her position after reportedly handing out a test that featured questions about assault rifles, cocaine and prostitution. In case it isn’t obvious, virtually all middle schools in the United States prohibit all three of those things. The school is investigating the math quiz, which was distributed in a language arts class.

“Dwayne pimps 3 h-‘s. If the price is $85 per trick, how many tricks per day must each h- turn to support Dwayne’s $800 per day crack habit?” one question asks.

The teacher at Burns Middle School, JoAnne Bolser, who is reportedly set to retire this year, did not write the quiz herself. It popped up online years ago, labeled the “City of Los Angeles High School Math Proficiency Exam,” written to poke fun at the area’s gang and drug violence. At least one parent, Erica Hall, complained.

I “couldn’t believe it,” Hall told local media. “They took it as a joke, and she told them that it wasn’t a joke and they had to complete it and turn it in. I was shocked because she’s a strict teacher.”

Bolser also isn’t the only teacher to hand the quiz out and receive discipline for doing so, according to the Root, which “provides commentary on today’s news from a variety of African-American perspectives.” Teachers in Texas, New Mexico and California have all seen the test handed out to students. The Root described the test as “racist.”