Math Teacher's Bad Lesson: How to Shoot Obama

He was teaching them about angles
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 18, 2010 1:55 PM CDT
Math Teacher's Bad Lesson: How to Shoot Obama
Okay kids, say you wanted to shoot the president. First, you'd get out your compass and protractor...   (Shutterstock)

Remember word problems? Those cute math class constructions where you learn a skill through real-world examples? Well an Alabama geometry teacher got a little too real for the Secret Service, when he used the hypothetical assassination of Barack Obama to teach his high school students about angles. “He said, 'If you're in this building, you would need to take this angle to shoot the president,” one student told the Birmingham News.

The Secret Service questioned the teacher, but didn't take him into custody or charge him with a crime. “We did not find a credible threat,” one agent said. The school says it doesn't plan to fire the teacher. But “we are going to have a long conversation with him about what's appropriate,” says the superintendent. “It was extremely poor judgment on his part, a poor choice of words.” (More assassination stories.)

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