A California high school is embroiled in controversy after a biology teacher’s appalling test questions were shared online.
Alex Nguyen, a long-time educator at the Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, has been placed on administrative leave for crafting a test that not only named and ridiculed students but also included offensive racial stereotypes.
The biology teacher, who taught at the school for at least 10 years, had distributed the biology final to three classes before Principal Jim Peterson found out about it on June 12.
In the exam, some students were targeted, with their full names mentioned, and the questions also included derogatory descriptions of their physical and ethnic characteristics.
The Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento has sparked headlines over a biology test that targeted students by their full names
One particularly shocking question read: “In high school, there are individuals who are cross-eyed like (the name of a student) and (another name of a student), which is a dominant trait. We call those individuals ‘weirdoes.’ So, if you crossed two weirdoes (the two students named again), that are heterozygous for being cross-eyed, what is the offspring that would result?”
A test disclaimer—”in no way do I promote students being sexually active”—written by Alex did not stop parents and teachers from pointing out how inappropriate it was to imply any kind of sexual relationship between two students.
Another question offensively mentioned African American cultural traits that have “influenced” the student body of the Sacramento school.
The question read: “For some reason, the African American culture has influenced most of the student body. How? In African Americans, they have a gene for the pimp walk, which is dominant. What is the result if you cross (student name) homozygous dominant Latina with a homozygous recessive Hmong like (student name)?”
Alex Nguyen, the employee who crafted the test, has been teaching biology at the school for at least a decade
Yet another concerning question targeted a pair of students who were previously caught sleeping in class.
“Here at the wonderful school of LBHS, we have certain students who love to sleep in class,” the question said. “I even see students fall asleep during exams! Can you believe that?! I don’t like it when students sleep in class… it’s rude! So, WAKE THE #$%K UP! Well, through much study, I have concluded that the gene for falling asleep is dominant. Not only that some students sleep, they snore in class. This too is a dominant trait. What are the possible offspring if you cross a homozygous sleeping, heterozygous snoring student (student name) with a homozygous attentive, non-snoring (student name) student?”
The school, where 97 percent of the student body is not white, swiftly responded during the two-hour exam period.
The principal intervened within ten minutes of the test’s administration, and he spoke privately with Alex before confiscating the test from the students.
The problematic test included questions mocking cross-eyed students and perpetuating racial stereotypes
Despite this, the biology teacher audaciously projected the test on a screen and made students continue the exam on their own sheets of paper.
Following the incident, Alex was replaced by a substitute teacher the very next day. However, the fallout continued as students and parents raised concerns about the educator’s behavior.
Parents Adriana and Shawn Allen expressed shock and have been in touch with the school over the problematic questions.
Adriana said she initially found it hard to believe when her son described the questions to her.
“No way would a teacher do that,” she thought, but she felt offended for her son when she actually saw the test herself.
Their son, who is half-Black and half-Mexican, was one of the students whose name was mentioned in the outrageous biology final. The student spoke to the Sacramento Bee and said he was shocked by the racist connotations against African American students in the questions.
In one of the questions, the biology teacher targeted students who had previously gotten in trouble for sleeping in class
The LBHS student said he knew the teacher “was not playing around” when he laid eyes on the question about his schoolmates who were targeted for sleeping in class.
“(When I saw that) I was like, so it’s not like you’re joking about it. You’re being serious about it, because that’s what they really do,” the Allens’ son told the outlet. “That’s how I knew he was not playing around.”
For him, the consequences of the test continued even after he received grades for the test. He found out that he received a zero on the test, which made his overall grade for the class plummet to a D.
The student is adamant about maintaining good grades to stay eligible to play baseball at one of his dream universities. But the results of the headline-spurring biology test have put a damper on his dreams.
His parents have since contested the grade, and the student is now enrolled in summer school to make up for the academic setback.
The high schooler also noted that he did not want to see Alex get fired from his post, but he wanted some form of accountability, possibly in the form of an apology to the students at large.
“I’d want him to apologize to Burbank as a whole, because that’s the majority of our kids,” he told the outlet. “So for him to say those things, it’s pretty messed up.”
The school’s principal, Jim Peterson, had intervened by going to the class, having a private conversation with Alex, and then taking away the test from the students
His father, Shawn, was glad the boy was able to move on from being publicly insulted in a biology final. But he worried about the long-term repercussions on students, especially those facing mental health issues.
“Maybe I’m upset with you, and I know I can’t verbally say what I want to say, so I’m going to take it out another way — that’s what he did. So I’m just going to put it in the final, and it’s going to spread, so now your peers look at you and they’re going to be saying, ‘oh, you’re the weirdo,’” the father said, while his wife chimed in, “And students are already being bullied by other kids, so to be bullied by a teacher when that’s who is supposed to protect you from a bully, that’s big.”
“[The principal’s] prompt response reflects our strong commitment to maintaining a safe and respectful learning environment for all students,” a statement said
Image credits: Trustee Chinua Rhodes
School District Spokesperson Al Goldberg said Alex was placed on administrative leave from June 13, the last day of school, and the investigation continues.
Goldberg accepted that there were “challenges with the grading process” since the test was withdrawn, and officials are working to rectify the situation.
“We will evaluate the exams of the students who received the test and our Academic Department will contact students whose final grade has been impacted,” he said.
Netizens agreed that it looked like the teacher was deliberately “trying to get fired” with the inappropriate test questions
