A North Carolina mother was shocked at the inappropriateness of a question on her child’s biology test at Ardrey Kell High School. It was a question about a big bootie. Some have made the accusation that it is racist and stereotypical. However, when the mother asked the teacher about it, she says the teacher gave the wrong answer.
According to WBTV , the test had to do with the subject of genetics, but one student’s mother reported that the language of one test question made her daughter feel uncomfortable. It was not an appropriate statement to be on a test, the mother said.
“LaShamanda has a heterozygous big bootie, the dominant trait. Her man Fontavius has a small bootie which is recessive. They get married and have a baby named LaPrincess.”
Based on that information, students were expected to answer this question: “What is the probability that LaPrincess will inherit her mama’s big bootie?” as well as another one asking students to calculate the probability of a subsequent child having a “ big bootie ,” reports the Blaze .
When one mother found out about the tasteless question, she had some questions of her own for her daughter’s teacher. She expressed her concern to the teacher, and asked what made her believe that this type of language was acceptable for a teacher to use with students. There are several possible answers that the teacher could have given.
A. We are going to look into how the question got on the test and who wrote it.
B. I agree that it is inappropriate, and we will remove it.
C. We will discontinue use of the “big bootie” question immediately.
D. The question has been used before by other teachers.
The mother was very disappointed when the teacher chose answer D. Any of the other possible responses would have been acceptable answers, but instead, the teacher justified it, saying that other teachers had been using it and the worksheet got passed down to her. It was part of the “Summer School Biology Notebook Packet” that the school district allegedly gave out to teachers.
The teacher apologized to the mother in an emailed response, “I apologize if it offended you or your child.”
The language of the test question is considered crass and completely inappropriate for a school setting. The internet and pop culture is full of references to booties, and the Inquisitr has reported on that of Kim Kardashian . However, many parents do not believe that students should be hearing such language from their teachers.
As to the charge of racism on the worksheet, that may not actually be the case. There are four basic pelvis types , as mothers may be taught in childbirth classes: android, gynecoid, anthropoid, and platypelloid. Most women have a blend of pelvis types, but scientists have found that almost “half of Caucasian women have a Gynecoid pelvis while nearly half of women of African descent are said to have an Anthropoid pelvis,” according to Spinning Babies . The shape of a person’s buttocks is largely dependent upon the pelvis type. Had the information been presented in a scientific manner, there likely would not have been an issue.
However, students were faced with a crudely written example, with language seemingly more appropriate to the gutter than an educational setting. There is no word on how many teachers may have handed out this particular test, or in how many schools. What is surprising is that no teacher made the decision to stop the question from being shown to students, until a parent protested.
Later, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials issued a written statement that the test containing the “bootie” question “does not appear to be a document created by CMS.”
“The school has taken the worksheet out of circulation and requested its teachers to discontinue using it.”
With regards to the unsuitable question about big booties, that, the mother said, is the right answer.
[image via CRDA]