See Controversial Math Quiz That Got Alabama Teacher Put On Leave

An Alabama middle school teacher was put on leave, a school official confirmed to Patch, after she gave out a math quiz to her eighth grade class that parents have called inappropriate and racist.

Rena Philips, a spokeswoman for the Mobile Public School District, told Patch that the quiz was handed out Friday, and a concerned parent brought the matter to the school's principal Tuesday.

The teacher, whom Philips declined to name, was placed on administrative leave immediately.

One question asked about "Tyrone" who "knocked up" girls in his "gang." In another, "Leroy has 2 ounces of cocaine."

A quick google search of the questions directed Patch to an article on the internet-rumor-debunking website Snopes. Snopes says the quiz has been around in some form or another since at least the 1990s. It came from a humor article called "The City of Los Angeles High School Math Proficiency Exam."

It's meant to be a satire of the city's school system and gang culture. But it's gotten plenty of teachers in trouble over the years, who have handed the test out either as a joke or as an actual quiz.

It appears the Mobile teacher wanted students to actually take the quiz.

"They took it as a joke, and she told them that it wasn't it a joke, and they had to complete it, and turn it in," Hall, the mother, told Fox10.

"We regret that it happened this late in the school year," Philips said. "We have 7,500 employees working for MPS doing a great job and we hate that it’s getting overshadowed by this one instance."

A picture of the 10-question quiz was posted online. It read, in full:

1. Ramon has an AK-47 with a 30-round clip. He usually misses 6 out of every 10 shots and he uses 13 rounds per drive-by shooting. How many drive-by shootings can Ramon attempt before he has to steal enough ammunition and reload?

2. Leroy has 2 ounces of cocaine. If he sells an 8 ball to Antonio for $320 and 2 grams to Juan for $85 per gram, what is the street value of the rest of his hold?

3. Dwayne pimps 3 ho’s. If the price is $85 per trick, how many tricks per day must each ho turn to support Dwayne’s $500 per day crack habit?

4. Raul want to cut the pound of cocaine he bought for $40,000 to make a 20% profit. How many one ounce bags will he need to make to obtain the 20% profit?

5. Desmond gets $200 for a stolen BMW, $150 for a Corvette, and $100 for a 4X4. If he steals 1 BMW, 2 Corvettes and 3 4x4's, how many more Corvettes must he steal to have $900?

6. Pedro got 6 years for murder. He also got $10,000 for the hit. If his common-law wife spends $100 of his hit money per month, how much money will be left when he gets out?

7. If the average spray can covers 22 square feet and the average letter is 3 square feet, how many letters can be sprayed with three 8 oz. Cans of spray paint with 20% paint left over?

8. Tyrone knocked up 4 girls in his gang. There are 20 girls in the gang. What percentage of the girls in the gang has Tyrone knocked up?

9. LaShaundra is a lookout for the gang. Lacuna also has a Boa Constrictor that eats 5 rats per week at a cost of $5 per rat. If LaShaunda makes $700 a week as a lookout, how many weeks can she feed the Boa on one week's income?

10. Marvin steals Juan's skate board. As Marvin skates away at 15mph, Juan loads his 357 Magnum. If it takes Juan 20 seconds to load his piece, how far away will Marvin be when he gets whacked?