slavery and math problems

""Harding, a graduate student at NYU, said she felt it was inappropriate to assign elementary school students math problems like, "In a slave ship, there can be 3,799 slaves. One day, the slaves took over the ship. 1,897 are dead. How many slaves are alive?" The second question got even more graphic, asking, "One slave got whipped five times a day. How many times did he get whipped in a month (31 days)? Another slave got whipped nine times a day. How many times did he get whipped in a month? How many times did the two slaves get whipped together in one month?" ""