A math professor at Bellevue Community College wrote an exam question that takes a vacuous swipe at Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. And the college doesn't appear to be bothered by it.
Update 4/13 - The Smoking Gun has a photo copy of the exam. Follow the links at the bottom to page 4.
Michelle Malkin has the story. She has a letter from Rev. Wayne Perryman of Mercer Island:
Dear Friends: The following sample math problem was given to students as part of their final exam at Bellevue Community College in Washington State. I was asked by black students to represent them in this matter. Some of these students attend my church. I am asking all of you and your friends to e-mail the school at the following e-mail addresses and express your outrage: Advising@bcc.ctc.edu, tpritcha@bcc.ctc.edu, and amatsumo@bcc.ctc.edu. The following is the math problem given to the students.Condoleezza holds a watermelon just over the edge of the roof of the 300 -foot Federal Building, and tosses it up with a velocity of 20 feet per second. The height of the watermelon above the ground t seconds later is given by formula h= -16t2 + 20t + 300
a. How many seconds will it pass her (she's standing at a height of 300 feet) on the way down?
b. When will the watermelon hit ground?
If they used this same problem and substituted Condoleezza's name with Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, there would be mass protest and they would shut the college down. Because it was Condoleezza Rice, they wanted to ignore it until I showed up today. Please e-mail the college and express your outrage and your support of having me at the table to resolve this issue. I am demanding that the college to do several things to correct the problem.
This is serious. Please do not let me down, I want thousands of e-mails to come from all across the country. A CBS affiliate, KIRO TV did cover this story.
Rev. Wayne Perryman
And she has a letter from a reader/listener Gary M with information about BCC's response:
This is no joke. I listened to a radio interview with a school spokeman this afternoon on the John Carlson show here in the Seattle area. The spokesman denounced the question but accepted at face value the instructor's claim that it was an unintentional reference, and he defended the instructor's 1st Amendment right to say what he wants.Someone will proabaly contact BCC about this. Posted by Ron Hebron at April 12, 2006 08:19 AM | Email This
It was a cowardly swipe. The kind of thing you expect from a "Jay Bennish" like teacher or professor.
Also, the physics problems appear to have gotten a lot easier than when I had to take weed-out freshman Newtonion physics. But this might have been one of the easier questions. Then again, it is Bellevue CC and not the U.
Posted by: Jeff B. on April 12, 2006 08:31 AMThis is just another example of how you are not really "black" if you are a conservative. The rules are different for black conservatives, and the media hypocrisy stinks.
Posted by: Palouse on April 12, 2006 08:37 AMCondoleezza, (kahn-dah-LEE-za) from the Italian term con dolcezza which in a score of music instructs the performer to play "with sweetness."
Yep! Real common for blacks parents in the '50s to name their daughters for Italian musical terms.
Try again.
Posted by: JCM on April 12, 2006 08:49 AMI am convinced this was with purpose to once again attack Bush and those close to him. Why is it that Conservatives are labeled racist, when it's the libs that most often show their true colors? On John Carlson's radio show two days ago, his guest was a rep. from BCC that had spoke to the professor that wrote the math quiz and the professor claimed complete ignorance to what he had done. Pah-lease. Liar-Liar...
Posted by: dan_55 on April 12, 2006 08:56 AMTo me, that would make the name very unique, and since seeing JCM's response, I know why.
I don't see how this makes our Secretary of State look like a buffoon or anything.
It would have been better perhaps to use "Tom Dick or Harry" -- but I don't see why the outrage "close the College" indeed! Because of one question on one math test?
Posted by: My Boaz's Ruth on April 12, 2006 09:15 AMI don't see how this makes our Secretary of State look like a buffoon or anything.
It would have been better perhaps to use "Tom Dick or Harry" -- but I don't see why the outrage "close the College" indeed! Because of one question on one math test?
Posted by: My Boaz's Ruth on April 12, 2006 09:15 AMShe is also the 2nd black Sec-State, both appointed by a Republican President, and that just gets the lefties knickers all twisted in a knot.
For a college prof. to claim ignorance means one of two things. Either he is a complete and utter moron and ignoramus and has no business teaching anything. Or, he is a moonbat.
Add "watermelon" and you compound the problem, it multiplies this prof "ignorance" by 10, leaving him with an IQ of frozen water. Or he is a racist moonbat.
Take your choice.
Stupid to the nth degree.
Racist moonbat.
Like dan_55 said
Pull your head out.
If say conservative mentioned a prominent black figure and a watermelon in the same sentence. The hue and cry for him to apologize and resign would be item one on all the antique media outlets for a week solid.
Can you say Trent Lott? And all he did was say something nice at an old Strom birthday party.
Posted by: JCM on April 12, 2006 09:21 AMA question for all you lefty trolls out there. Why do you think racism is OK if it's directed at a conservative?
Posted by: swassociates on April 12, 2006 09:23 AMJesse holds a watermelon just over the edge of the roof of the 300 -foot Rainbow Coalition Building, and tosses it up with a velocity of 20 feet per second. The height of the watermelon above the ground t seconds later is given by formula h= -16t2 + 20t + 300
a. How many seconds will it pass him (he's standing at a height of 300 feet) on the way down?
b. When will the watermelon hit ground?
http://www.yesmagazine.org/default.asp?ID=114
The Left says they aren't trying to bias education?
Then why does the subscription request include questions like: "How might positive, action-oriented materials fit into the curricula of your course(s) or program?"
What kind of uproar would there be if a right-leaning magazine tried to influence teachers & curriculum?
If you read between the lines of the introduction, it sounds like they've received funds from a donor or donors for the purposes of "outreach" (aka propaganda). Also, note that they won't send the magazine to homeschoolers. Why? Because you can influence more kids for less money in public school.
Posted by: concerned citizen on April 12, 2006 09:38 AMAnd for those who don't see the problem here (DD)...try a practical exercise. Grab a few watermelons, go downtown, and then start asking any African-American you meet to help you demonstrate this problem.
Make sure your medical insurance is paid up.
Claiming ignorance on this is an insult to anyone with an IQ.
Posted by: Palouse on April 12, 2006 09:50 AMThis question as written, can not be answered because it depends on how tall Ms. Condoleezza “is”...or how tall “is”...”IS”
For those of you, who on occasion may visit one of our many “Fine Native Gamming Establishments?” You would have noticed that watermelons symbols have been removed from Slot Machines by the manufactures because of “HEAT” from Blacks of the African Diaspora!!!
Oh, well. Attorney General Rob "RMK" McKenna sits on that college's foundation board.
Posted by: A Watchdog on April 12, 2006 10:03 AMThis is a huge stretch, like seeing the Virgin Mary in toast. A whole lot of todo about nuthin'!
Posted by: Lenny on April 12, 2006 10:36 AMFYI - The Department of State is a department of the federal government, not the state government. Given that, any building within that department, including all US embassies, are federal buildings.
Posted by: Fred on April 12, 2006 10:47 AM1) Condoleezza, an uncommon, if not unique name. Please find a reference anywhere to anyone other than our Sec-State named Condoleezza.
2) Dr. Condoleezza Rice United State Secretary of State is a well no person.
3) Dr. Condoleezza Rice is Black.
4) We have been told repeatedly that reference to Watermelons and Blacks is racial insensitive at best and racist at worst.
5) As Fred points out, The State Department is a Federal Office. Are you just dim, or were out smokin' weed during 5th grade civics?
Logic: (another class you seem to have missed)
A uncommon to unique name of a prominent black women who is the top Federal Official in the State Department.
What are the chance of another Condoleezza working in a Federal Building.
On first inspection I would say 300 million to 1.
Add that to the inclusion of the word watermelon, a known racial slur.
The chances that of all those items being coincidental is asymptotically zero.
Posted by: JCM on April 12, 2006 11:03 AMThe spokeman on John's show called it free speech, instead of hate speech--which it would have been called if a liberal black person's name had been used. They'll probably give this teacher a raise for demonstrating the 'proper' political perspective--just watch.
Posted by: Misty on April 12, 2006 11:04 AM(a) 5/4 seconds
(b) 5 seconds
I just worked it out on a post-it. Yeah, I'm a Boeing engineer.
Posted by: Gary on April 12, 2006 11:10 AMMy basic point is that it seemed more important to slander her than to come up with a physics problem that had enough information to actually come up with an answer.
Posted by: Fred on April 12, 2006 11:18 AMConsidering the pervasive hatred in "blue" areas for all things and people associated with the Bush administration -- and for conservative blacks in general -- it's reasonable to take the wording of the question as a swipe at the secretary of state.
We aren't yet at a point where we can chuckle at such things.
If we were, people would recognize this as a trick question: No Southerner (black, white, or whatever) would let a good watermelon hit the ground under these circumstances -- he or she would catch it on the way down. (I know, since I grew up in the South.)
Instead of being angry with the instructor, we should pity him. He's obviously a sad person in every sense of the word "sad."
Posted by: Micajah on April 12, 2006 11:21 AMLink 'em or FOAD
Posted by: JCM on April 12, 2006 11:27 AMBTW - what is the definition of hypocrisy?
Posted by: Fred on April 12, 2006 11:29 AMThis math problem was obviously a strange attempt at showing Bush Derangement Syndrome by a typical liberal professor.
Posted by: PW on April 12, 2006 12:36 PMHave yous ever considered this from the watermelons side. Where are all of the Tree Huggers, Humus Eaters and other Veg-Heads and this obvious endeavor to torpedo Watermelons?
PURE VEGISCIDE?
Forgetaboutit
Typical.
Sorry to see you proved wrong... er, make that NOT sorry.
Posted by: libertarianobserver on April 12, 2006 01:02 PMRespectfully, if I accepted your concern about racism as sincere, then I might agree that connecting black people (MY PEOPLE) with watermelons would be something to be outraged about. And so, since I DO NOT FIND your concern sincere, I cannot share your expressed outrage.
Please note my comments specifically addressed how CONDI would see the professor's stupidity. She would want the question to be answered correctly by the students, hopefully by those black students in the class. WHY DO SAY THIS PALUOSE? Because the black community is less affected by silly, stupid things like what this professor attempted to do to Condi, than the condesening attitude by some on this website that an act of racism occured.
Believe me Palouse. I am black. And I think the professors question was disrespectable and intended to hurt Condi and some blk conservatives. I am a supporter of Condi.
But some advice, if you care really about racism. Become active in local schools to help better prepare black children to become better students with a love for academic excellence and thirst for succeeding in math.
Try not to fight battles on the sidelines with insincere outrage. Its not becoming of you, nor Sound Politics.
Respectfully,
Once At City
It's about the double standard.
Use the Jesse on the Rainbow building version of the problem.
Have Newt Gringich pose the problem.
Would or would not all those on the left go absolutely bat sh*t?
Answer honestly.
Why can conservatives be attacked with impunity.
And conservative can be taken out of context and publicly pilloried.
That is the issue. Not this particular incident. Especially we we've show pretty conclusively that the probability of this being an "innocent" mistake is vanishingly zero.
Posted by: JCM on April 12, 2006 01:11 PMAnd I would hope that ALL students are able to answer the question, not just minorities.
Sincerely,
Palouse
P.S. Not that it really matters in regard to blog commentary, I am already involved in my local schools (are you?), so I am by no means "on the sidelines".
Posted by: Palouse on April 12, 2006 01:16 PMI am sorry. I know my comments must have struck a cord. I commend you for your works at local school. Forgive me, I am more concerned with real...shall I say AFFECTUAL racism, then this example of what can best be described as lazy and unaffectual racism.
Lets start a new: No black or white is denide a job, contract or anything else as a result of the professors actions. No adult is wronged, except Condi. Who could care a less, I am sure.
My personal experience leads me to see this in terms of laziness and attempting to make a political point.
Now, could this have been done by a white or black conservative. Not likely without a stink from Liberals. I should say stupid, silly liberals. That is NOT me. JCM and yourself have valid beef with white liberals and holl-then-thou blacks who cry "race" everytime someone is perceived to be hurt by langauge or other actions.
JCM and Palouse education is a serious issue. Racism is a serious issue. I trust the two of you would prefer spending space and time on both issues in a proactive manner. Worrying that there is a double-standard (WHICH THERE IS....and promise you I been a black conservative sympathizer long before you were bloging on SP) is not useful at all.
Thanks for the input and dialouge. I appreciate you spending time in your day to type back......Once at City can be wrong at times.
Respectfully
Once
I had actually given some consideration to taking some additional classes there over the summer quarter (including some math classes) but will now quite likely instead send them a letter explaining why I will not be doing so, and seek to take classes elsewhere.
Posted by: Vexorg on April 12, 2006 02:36 PMAnd yes, I realize that this is about the racial slur presented in the presentation of the problem. I figured someone might be interested in a simple solution of the problem without getting too terribly bogged down in minor details. Besides, the problem gave the equation for the height of the melon based on time and that is the equation I used to solve the problem.
Posted by: Gary on April 12, 2006 03:54 PMThe real scandal here, of course, is how easy the math question is. I mean, that's middle school level stuff, right? This is what passes for exam questions at Bellevue Community College? What a joke.
Posted by: DJ on April 12, 2006 04:01 PMRegarding the comment about the level of the math problem. I don't know what math class it was, but the concept is such a fundamental physics problem, it is certainly appropriate at many different ages, including college level. I would also wager that many people reading this blog could not work this problem, which implies that it is not middle-school math.
Posted by: ChrisB on April 12, 2006 07:33 PMGetting back to the test question, writing exam problems is typically boring and teachers often try to make it interesting for them and to amuse the students. This physics problem is worked exactly the same no matter what is being thrown from where. The assumption is that no matter what is written, the prepared student should be able to answer it. However, it's a drag to be in the middle of a stressful situation like a test, and have to deal with a teacher's poor choice in wording a standard type of problem.
Posted by: ChrisB on April 12, 2006 08:44 PMswassociates at April 12, 2006 09:23 AM posted: "A question for all you lefty trolls out there. Why do you think racism is OK if it's directed at a conservative?"
I did not need to poll my liberal colleagues to decide if I thought it was racist. I polled them because I thought it might be interesting to the readership of this blog to hear that many liberals felt the same way that they did.
Personally, I had an immediate response of feeling that the test question was racist and inappropriate.
Posted by: ChrisB on April 12, 2006 09:24 PMAs to you comments on an earlier, subject today…
I hate to be the one that break your bubble but…
Gen. Moses Cleaveland, b. 1/24/1754 d. 11/1/1806 in Canterbury County, Connecticut.
Graduated Yale in 1777
Commissioned as Captain in 1779-1781
Went into legal practice in Conn.1782
In 1796 commissioned Brig. Gen. in Conn. Militia
Gen. Cleaveland a shareholder in the Connecticut Land Company is appointed Land Agent for the company and purchases land in N.E. Ohio for $1,200,000.
Heads party of 50 to (6 surveyors, a doctor, a Chaplin, a boatman, 37 employees, and 4 “Legal” Immigrants) the Ohio Area.
July 22, 1796 surveyed and plotted the area along the Cuyahoga River and named it Cleaveland.
In 1830, the name of the city was changed to Cleveland by the first newspaper the Cleveland Advertiser because the name did not fit on the letterhead.
Pres. Grover Cleveland is in NO WAY related to Moses Cleaveland!!!
The Sunshine Bus will be by to get you in the morning, keep the windows dry!!!
Posted by: Pacific Grove Phlash on April 12, 2006 09:38 PMthe president of BCC apologized, as did the math prof, who is still unnamed. The explanation was that the story was originally written about Gallagher throwing the watermelon. For those of you not familiar with Gallagher, he made a comic routine out of smashing a watermelong with a sledgehammer (sledge-o-matic, I think he called it).
I'm not sure I buy into that explanation. Why the name change?
Posted by: Obi-Wan on April 13, 2006 09:20 AMNot that I expected anything else from a bunch of PC Conservative crybabies.
Posted by: Warren on April 13, 2006 02:59 PMWhat makes this math question less racist by republishing it and/or broadcasting it on the air over and over. (example: If he had used the word ni**ger which is racist, every one would have written or spoken "the "N" word" in its place.)
So, if you still believe this is a racist question, then why not criticize and demand an apology from all who have used it over the last couple of days, like "sound politics", "Frank Shiers" (yesterday repeated it several times and even put Rice's last name in the question), "the Smoking Gun" who posted the actual exam question, and all who copy and pasted it on this and other blogs. Maybe all these people should also apologize or is it alright to keep using a racial slur as long as someone uses it first.
Steve
Warren says, thoughtfully "Calling the question racist is more racist than the question itself."
This raises the issue a priori, that IF by Warren's logic, calling a question racist [in itself] is more racist than the
question itself, obviously Warren's calling the caller of the question racist is the real racist but even more so.
Actually, saying that a question (an object of speech) racist is more racist than the question itself is just stupid in which case Warren is a also a stupid racist.
Nevertheless, only a moron would slovenly opine that an immediate response of feeeeling that a test question is racist and inappropriate is racist.
This obviously proves by his own words that Warren is a stupid racist moron.
Admittedly, he is an expert stupid racist moron though.
This kind of petty "crying wolf" clouds the real issues regarding race in our country. It also gives the real racists more ammunition for their weapons of hate.
And here's another slant on how the question actually got onto the test: Most math departments have a multiple of professors write a final exam. Maybe the professors who reviewed the question were all minority and simply didn't make the conection. (The 20 year-old African-American man who works for me didn't get the watermelon conection, either.)
Posted by: Poodle mom on April 17, 2006 10:52 AMIn other words: Liberals like Warren are narcissistic racist degenerates.
Posted by: Amused by liberals on April 17, 2006 01:12 PMI was born and raised in a non-racist community for 20 years. I just recently moved to a city that deals with the issue of racism on a daily basis and I am astonished to view the world the way that a lot of the people in this city do.
I had no idea what was racist with this question until I spoke with a native of the city that I live in now. And to be completely honest. The racial implications of this math problem still don't make any sense to me.
The whole conversation seems ridiculous to me. I also think that the people that see this math problem as racist are pessimistic individuals that are searching very hard for something to cry about.
Why?
Posted by: Why? on April 18, 2006 08:02 AMIt seems as if your inability to see issues from other people's perspectives has made you appear less intelligent and unable to constructively discuss two sides of an argument.
Furthermore, your comments clearly indicate that your are not respected by your peers for your communication skills.
Posted by: Why on April 18, 2006 11:47 AMYour family cavorted with and ate watermelon, therefore all past references of a racist nature to watermelon and blacks never existed, and "the only people that find [such a reference] to be racist are those individuals that are racist.
In extension of this brilliant logic, you say that "according to some of these racists, I must be of African American heritage to enjoy watermelons with my family."
I was raised in a family where ovens were only used for baked goods that tasted delicious, and where all past references of a racist nature to ovens and jews never existed, so it goes by your "logic" that the only people that find [such a reference] to be racist are those individuals that are racist. By your rationale, given my innocent childhood, there was obviously no holocaust.
Your pseudo logic is stultifyingly dim-witted.
You say my, "comments clearly indicate that [I am] not respected by [my] peers for [my] communication skills.
Nice try jack-a$$ but I couldn' care less what my so-called peers think; they mind their business, and I mind mine. This is not a liberal blog where everyone must BELIEVE the same things and repeat inane bull$hit to eachother. Anyone from any view is free to engage me or not as they please.
Nevertheless, if my make idiotic comments like the ones you just made you are likely to have them fed back to you.
Don't respond unless you find someone to make a rational argument for you. It just makes you look more foolish.
Posted by: Amused by liberals on April 19, 2006 10:16 AMHow would you like it if the math question measured the length of a white man’s penis using millimeters and a basketball player penis with a yardstick? You would probably wonder if someone was peeking into your bathroom window, and feel a little self conscious.
The Pete Raetner math question is a very unkind stereotype. It has nothing to do with being liberal or conservative. It is just plain mean. Obviously, Pete wasn’t thinking with the right head!
Now, for those of you feigning ignorance, (perhaps some of you aren’t faking. . .) the watermelon stereotype has a long standing history in the United States. It goes back to the days when slaves worked 12-14 hours in the field. During which time, they were given little food or water. Watermelons contained plenty of juice and sugar, which added carbohydrates, hydration and sweetness to an otherwise bitter life.
There is another stereotype about the United States being a great place where people help are kind and compassionate towards people who are culturally and phenotypically different. Perhaps this is something to aspire towards.
http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/writinglab/LiteraryAnalysis.html
The reference to an old "white trash" woman is racist and offensive in the
extreme.
I demand that the perpetrators, the culpable departments, and the president
of BCC make a public apology.
The offensive remark, "They were nothing more than white trash," is also
included in a student paper posted on the Bellevue Community College
website.
http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/artshum/materials/engl/KBennett/fall03/101/StudentPape3f03.htm
As the Bellevue Community College Pluralism Steering Committee noted in
regard to the recent racist math question, "The fact that no one complained
about the test question or noticed it demonstrates how invisible and
pervasive the veil of institutional racism is at BCC."
(from "A Message to the BCC Community from the Pluralism Steering
Committee:"
Posted April 16, 2006
http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/news/announcements/#questionpluralism )
The fact that no one complained about the casual use of the term "white
trash" or noticed it also demonstrates how invisible and pervasive the veil
of institutional reverse-racism is at BCC. I hope that this topic will be
included in the Bellevue Community College Pluralism Steering Committee's
regular on-going weekly "Courageous Conversations" on "Race, Racism and
Whiteness".
What this all boils down to is that rather than wasting funds on academics
the college needs to focus on diversity, equity, and pluralism until
absolutely no one is offended by anything.
However, WRC, I agree with you on the use of the term w**** t****. Like the term n****, it is often used by the groups it was meant to insult. In all circumstances, it is inappropriate!
Maybe we could use those Purell Hand Sanitizers to wash everone's mouth out as they enter the school building . . . or perhaps we could just be kind to one another.
Posted by: Truthsayer on April 20, 2006 09:33 PM