Missouri teacher asks fifth-graders to 'set your price for a slave' as part of their homework assignment
MEHLVILLE, MISSOURI: A Missouri teacher was placed on leave after children at an elementary school were given an assignment to set a price on slaves.
According to a report by Fox 2, the social studies assignment aimed at fifth grade students in Blades Elementary School in Oakville, Missouri, sparked a backlash after a portion of it was posted on social media on December 8.
The Mehlville School District subsequently began an investigation into the incident, and on December 9, the school's principal penned a letter to parents calling the assignment "culturally insensitive". The letter also stated that the teacher, whose name has been withheld, expressed "significant remorse".
The school announced shortly after that the teacher had been placed on administrative leave pending investigation.
Lee Jones posted the controversial assignment on Facebook, saying that a friend's child had brought in the homework.
"It is so wrong on so many levels," she remarked in the caption.
"You own a plantation or farm and therefore need more workers. You begin to get involved in the slave trade industry and have slaves work on your farm. Your product to trade is slaves," the assignment reads, before asking students to set a price for a slave.
"These could be worth a lot," it adds. "You may trade for any items you like."
Meanwhile, the rest of the assignment contained questions about trading commodities like grains, lumber and fish.
Blades Elementary School principal Jeremy Booker stated in the letter that the assignment "attempted to address market practices". However, he acknowledged that it "was culturally insensitive. I appreciate the parents who notified me of this assignment".
According to Booker, the school district is now working towards providing staff with cultural bias training "in the near future." "We are working together to ensure all students and families feel valued and respected at Blades Elementary," he added.
That said, the St. Louis County Chapter of the NAACP deemed the assignment as "absolutely unacceptable" in a Facebook post on Sunday. "We are so disgusted with this absolutely unacceptable backwards behavior," they added.
"It's appalling, it's unacceptable and the school district owes the family, the public an apology," John Bowman, the chapter's president, told KDSK. "There needs to be an aggressive action taken to make sure this never happens again."