As if math homework itself weren't bad enough for elementary school kids, the New York Post reports that a class at Manhattan's P.S. 59 recently got it with a side of disturbing imagery about the trafficking of human beings. Questions reportedly included, "One slave got whipped five times a day. How many times did he get whipped in a month (31 days)?" and "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?"

Who thought this was a bright idea? The Department of Education told the Post that it was a "clumsy attempt" by the teacher who created the assignment to combine history and math. If that's "clumsy," we'd hate to see "disastrous."

Read more at the New York Post.