Over the past decade, at least three different school districts have been forced to issue public apologies because of a math homework sheet that contains content about sexual abuse.
The math “Person Puzzle” features biographical facts about the poet Maya Angelou, who died in 2014. The worksheet mentions sexual abuse and prostitution.
Outraged parents say the worksheet is not appropriate for high school math students. The controversial assignment has been removed and is no longer available for teachers to download for use with their students.
What the Worksheet Says
Until late February 2022, the “Maya Angelou Person Puzzle” was being sold on the Teachers Pay Teachers website. It was marked as appropriate for students in 10th through 12th grades.
Today, it is no longer available online. But here is an archived version.
A teacher named Clint Clark said he created the worksheet, one of hundreds he wrote over the years.
The worksheet includes these questions:
- “Angelou was sexually abused by her mother’s _____ at age 8, which shaped her career choices and motivation for writing.” (The answer choices are “boyfriend,” “brother,” or “father.”)
- “Trying to support her son as a single mother, she worked as a pimp, prostitute and _____.” (The answer choices are “bookie,” “drug dealer,” or “night club dancer.”)
Here is a closer look at the worksheet:
Clark said the biography math problems are intended to get students excited about tackling math problems by solving a cross-curriculum puzzle as they practice math.
“The math practice is the core; the biography is the hook,” Clark said.
“These biographies increase engagement for reluctant starters, pique the interest of those not as interested in math, and encourage reading across the curriculum,” he added.
2022 Controversy: Missouri
Most recently, on Feb. 21, 2022, parents in Missouri were in an uproar on social media over the worksheet.
They even created a petition claiming the school district was “exposing children to sexually explicit content.”
The school system apologized a day later, saying the “content does not align with the beliefs or mission of the Lincoln County R-III School District.”
2017 Controversy: Pennsylvania
In January 2017, following a number of complaints from the community, Pennridge School District superintendent Dr. Jacqueline Rattigan said, “We apologize to anyone who was offended by the content of the assignment and have taken steps to avoid such occurrences in the future.”
She added, “The homework worksheet in question was downloaded from a website that allows teachers around the world to share educational resources. It is not part of our approved curriculum.”
The uproar caused this story to go viral in 2017, with the Associated Press reporting on it.
2015 Controversy: Florida
In 2015, Lee County School District in Florida sent parents a message “sincerely apologizing” for the use of the worksheet after parents complained.
One mom told reporters, “I read [the worksheet questions] and just thought, ‘What in the world?’ This is so inappropriate for a 13-year-old eighth-grader.”
A spokesperson for the school district responded, “While Maya Angelou is a well-known American author and the facts of the worksheet are historically accurate, the principal believes [it was] inappropriate for some students.”
Complaints About the Worksheet Go Back to 2013
Since at least 2013, teachers warned other teachers to watch out for the sensitive content on the worksheet, with comments on the Teachers Pay Teachers website saying things like:
- “I would be careful with [question] numbers 3 and 5.”
- “This was completely unusable for my classroom. Surely there are more appropriate things to use for #3 and #5.”
Another teacher noted: “This assignment has specifically been banned in several school districts due to its content. Please be cautious if you choose to use this assignment.”
The worksheet was sold with this caution statement:
CAUTION: Mature content is integral to her biography. This is not suggested as homework and if you choose to [use] it, should be in your classroom where you can control the conversation.
“Not Suggested as Homework”
Clark, the Maya Angelou worksheet author, said he had a good reason for including the sexual abuse question: because it’s integral to the poet’s life story.
“I wrestled with whether to include her experience with sexual abuse, but eventually came to the conclusion that it was integral because Angelou herself found it integral,” he told BuzzFeed News in 2017, noting that Angelou’s own writing discussed how she was a rape survivor.
He said the worksheet was never intended as a take-home homework assignment.
“I recommend it needs to be in the classroom so [the teacher] can control the conversation. Not to be sent home for homework,” he said.
A Story of Survival
Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is assigned reading in many high schools. Decades after it was first published in 1969, the autobiography continues to draw controversy decades later with its discussion of her rape and teen pregnancy.
Before her death, Angelou said the book was misunderstood and attacked by people who have never even read it. She said she herself viewed it as a “mild” story about surviving trauma.
What I Think About This Controversy, as a Curriculum Copy Editor
I can understand people’s anger upon seeing a screenshot of the worksheet questions. Taken out of context, these questions don’t seem to belong at all on a math assignment.
Yet I can also see this from Clark’s viewpoint. It’s important not to flinch at showing students that traumatic experiences can and do shape lives. If the material is age-appropriate (these were high school students) and presented in an inclusive, respectful environment, then under the right circumstances it can provide a valuable learning opportunity. Teachers would obviously need to consider their specific class and determine whether or not the sensitive material is appropriate.
Even so, with all that said, I think this particular assignment should never have made its way into any classroom, and here’s why:
On a gut level, a fill-in-the-blank sexual abuse question simply doesn’t feel right on a mathematics quiz.
It feels like a trivial way to treat something that is traumatic and horrible.
Clark’s reasoning that the worksheet shouldn’t have gone home with students doesn’t work for me. In the age of social media, every bit of curriculum text needs to be vetted carefully, regardless of whether or not it ever leaves the classroom.
Discussing a sensitive subject wasn’t the problem in this case. The problem was that the sensitive subject felt so trivialized.
Final Thoughts
If I had been copy editing this worksheet, I would have flagged the two questions and laid out a strong case for rethinking them. This is what great copy editors do.
Besides the nitty-gritty stuff (grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.), K-12 curriculum copy editors take a hard, objective look at the big picture and point out what doesn’t seem to work.
We are there for curriculum designers to prevent incidents like this from ever bubbling up and causing unwanted controversy.
If you need a fresh set of eyes on your educational materials, contact us today for a free copy editing or proofreading quote.
