Sign up for our special edition newsletter to get a daily update on the coronavirus pandemic.
A Texas school district has removed a quiz question asking students if the COVID-19 pandemic is a “scam,” according to reports.
A science teacher at Pearland Junior High East recently posed the question to students in an online quiz, prompting at least one parent to post the test on Facebook, where it was derided as “unprofessional and unacceptable,” the Houston Chronicle reports.
“Is the coronavirus a scam?” the question asked, with the correct answer being true, a screenshot of the quiz shared on Monday shows.
“Had it been worded in a way that they could give their opinions and not be marked incorrect, it could have started a conversation that was relevant to today’s news and been a great way to start the year in science class,” the parent of one student who got the quiz, Elizabeth Madrigal, told the newspaper. “It could have gauged the kids’ understanding of the pandemic and really been a good opener to the science behind all of it.”
The principal of the school, meanwhile, said the question, which has since been removed, was intended to “spark conversation,” the newspaper reports.
“It was not to imply the virus is not serious or to make any political stance,” principal Charles Allen said.
A message seeking comment from Pearland Independent School District outside Houston was not immediately returned early Wednesday.
More than 153,000 people in greater Houston had contracted COVID-19 as of late Monday and 2,891 deaths were reported, according to state data cited by the Houston Chronicle.
Another parent of a student who took the quiz questioned the teacher’s motivation behind the controversial question, KPRC reports.
“Why was she asking her students that in the first place?” parent James Benny asked the station. “What was she trying to get out of it?”
Benny said the teacher, who was not identified, succeeded in sparking a discussion with the quiz, albeit not in the way it was originally intended.
“I can see if it was part of like a project or something to get a conversation started, which obviously it did,” Benny told KPRC. “That might be something that could be constructive. But if she was trying to prove some kind of personal point or some kind of agenda, then maybe not.”
