Controversial Exam Question About Race Under Investigation At Cal State Long Beach
LONG BEACH (CBSLA) – A Cal State Long Beach student claims a final exam question crossed the line into racism.
"Which of the following gangs generally do the least graffiti?" was posed in a health science final this week. But the student is questioning the question's answers: Black, Asian, Hispanic or White.
The young man posted a picture of the exam question on Twitter this week.
A taste of the kind of idiocy I've been dealing with in my health science education class. This is a question on my final exam... pic.twitter.com/bQJgkmmXSb
— Kenny DeNunez (@Al_RamBro) December 11, 2018
He also wrote, "When I tell you I hate my Thursday night class, this is why."
The student came across the question in a take-home final for those studying to become middle and high school teachers.
"I think it's inappropriate. I think that it doesn't make sense why that should be a question on a test," said student Patricia Ighodaro said.
The student reportedly said he doesn't remember going over anything about gangs in class, and found the question offensive.
"If it's never been discussed, then I would just be curious why they put it on the test," student Rita Kandybina said. "Even if it was discussed though, it's kind of, there's no statistics or numbers backing the question up.
A university spokesperson released the following statement to KCAL9:
"We appreciate this situation being called to our attention and have begun an investigation. The campus takes these allegations seriously. We will provide additional information when we have reached a resolution."
KCAL9's Rachel Kim reached out to both student and the instructor for comment but had not heard back from either as of Wednesday night.