A 9-year-old fourth-grader, Rhythm Pacheco, at a Utah elementary school says a problem on her math homework was offensive.
“Sorry I won’t (write) this it’s (rude),” she wrote and added “What!!!!” above it.
The question read: "The table to the right shows the weight of three Grade 4 students. How much heavier is Isabel than the lightest student?"
A table then listed the names and weights of the three fictional students - Isabel weighing in at 35 kilograms, Irene at 29kg 38grams and Sue weighing 29,238g.
'I was shocked…I was shocked, honestly,' Rhythm's mother, Naomi Pacheco, told Fox 13 about the question.
Both Rhythm and her mother believed the question comparing girls' weights was unnecessary.
'She said, "You know mom, I’m not going to answer this question, I’m not going to do it,"' Naomi said.
'I thought it was offensive,' Rhythm said. 'I didn't like that because girls shouldn't be comparing each other. I know it was a math problem...but I don't think that was really OK.'
The question came from Eureka Math, which is used by Murray City School District.
Eureka Math defended the question and claimed it has never received complaints about its questions in recent years.
'There is no value judgment in the question about weight, it’s merely a comparison," Eureka Math’s Director of Marketing Communications Chad Colby told Fox 13. 'It sounds like the parent is putting the value judgment on it, not the question.'
Colby added he did not believe there was any reason to remove the question from the curriculum.
‘It’s offensive,’ local elementary student speaks out against Common Core math problem https://t.co/vGUQP3rLaw
— FOX 13 News Utah (@fox13) October 2, 2019
