Michigan School Sparks Outrage After Biology Assignment Compares President Obama To Monkeys

A school in Birmingham, Michigan is receiving considerable backlash after one of its teachers handed out an assignment to her students that compared former Democratic President Barack Obama to images of monkeys.

The assignment was handed to students in a high school biology class at Roeper School, the oldest K-12 school for gifted students in the country.

The worksheet was titled "Introduction to Primates" and it instructed the students to indicate which photos pictured primates. Among the photos were apes, monkeys, lemurs and a picture of Obama.

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Many are appalled and calling for the teacher's firing.

This person said:

"This is absolutely outrageous."

" Racism has no place anywhere, and especially not in our classrooms."

"Hate is a learned behavior and this is how it festers."

"This incident must be investigated to the fullest extent and condemned by the school."

Someone else tweeted:

"Someone created this, and someone approved it."

"They need to be fired."

Someone had anonymously sent a photo of the worksheet to local station Fox 2.

The school put out a statement that said:

"We are aware of the lesson taught and continue to review the incident."

"We are not providing additional information out of respect for the privacy of our community members."

Parents were sent a letter by the head of school, David Feldman, where he explained and apologized for the incident.

The letter read in part:

"On behalf of Roeper's School leadership, I would like to acknowledge the disturbing racial offense contained in this worksheet and sincerely regret its use and the harm it has caused."

The school said they will continue to educate and train staff on racial bias in the classroom.

Many feel that this is not enough of a resolution.

Someone tweeted:

"Wowwwww.... a teacher thought this was okay."

"Then the administration tried to racistsplain it by saying the teacher obtained the assignment from a university."

"The teacher didn't see a problem with this?!?!"

"I call BS. Fire her!!"

Amid a new wave of criticism toward teaching critical race theory in schools—something that isn't happening, some are saying this is exactly why such a curriculum including racism awareness is needed.

One person tweeted:

"I bet if we had CRT in more schools we wouldn’t have President Obama being compared to monkeys in a Michigan classroom."

Some wondered whether there was some sort of mistake, but the school acknowledged the worksheet was found on a highly regarded university website.

The source of the worksheet remains unknown.

The teacher has since acknowledged her conduct and took responsibility for not vetting the assignment.