Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) seems to have taken away a single line from a USA Today opinion piece on the “poverty crisis” in America’s schools: “Half of students in poverty.”
https://twitter.com/CoryBooker/status/422829214967300096
https://twitter.com/ParisParamus/status/422863670230540288
Many are questioning Booker’s math, however. Oliver Thomas, who wrote the USA Today piece, notes that “in Finland, the child poverty rate is about 5%. In the U.S., the rate is almost five times as high.” That would make the U.S. child poverty rate…
@AceofSpadesHQ 5x 5%= 50%? #NEA RT @corybooker: USA Today: half of all students in America are living in poverty http://t.co/3mqUYJw2i3
— 100 Proof (@ChampionCapua) January 13, 2014
Check your work: 5×5%=? RT @CoryBooker USA Today: half of all students in America are living in poverty http://t.co/fhU1lIRBuV
— Cathy Buffaloe (@cathybuffaloe) January 13, 2014
@AceofSpadesHQ Clearly, @CoryBooker is as bad at math as he is at reasoning. Article says rate is "almost" 5 times 5%.
— Joel Engel (@joelengel) January 13, 2014
https://twitter.com/Texas_Frog/status/422834424279863296
@AceofSpadesHQ @CoryBooker So, 5% x 5 is 50%? Must be using #CommonCore math.
— Roland le Fartere (@Crapplefratz) January 13, 2014
Maybe it was a simple rounding error.
.@ChampionCapua @joelengel @AceofSpadesHQ @CoryBooker
23.1 rounds up to 25.
25 rounds up to 30
30 rounds up to 50.
FIFTY! That's half.— Arthur Kimes (@ComradeArthur) January 13, 2014
Recommended
@CoryBooker Reading and math shouldn't be that hard for a Senator. Try again.
— GT (@23rads) January 13, 2014
https://twitter.com/mattstandeuce/status/422831477714595840
Where, then, did the senator get the idea that half of all students are in poverty? Likely from this subhead later in the piece.
The study cited describes not students in poverty but rather “low income” students, defined as those eligible for free or reduced lunches, and concludes that more than half of students in 17 states qualified as low income. So, what does it take to qualify for a reduced price lunch? The family must have a household income of less than 185 percent of the poverty line.
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/422831882611335169
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/422832081136152576
@charlescwcooke @CoryBooker 1) It's public school children. 2) 17 states 3) Define poverty as qualifying for reduce price on lunches.
— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) January 13, 2014
@charlescwcooke @CoryBooker I looked it up, reduce meals means below 185% of poverty level or 44K for a family of 4.
— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) January 13, 2014
@charlescwcooke @CoryBooker and btw the study refuses to list who qualifies for reduced lunch.. free lunch is below 130% of poverty rate.
— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) January 13, 2014
So, who really believes that a full half of public school students are in poverty?
@CoryBooker That's probably a little overstated! Unless we've been misled about a recession really being a Great Depression.
— Patrick Martin (@bytetracks) January 13, 2014
are you really so innumerate you believe that half of all kids in school are living in poverty? Read the article again, genius @CoryBooker
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) January 13, 2014
Did "half" really strike you as a ballpark estimate of the number of children in poverty? @CoryBooker
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) January 13, 2014
.@corybooker You misinformed your readers in claiming "HALF" of all "students" "living in poverty." Please correct. http://t.co/dnyGofS8WC
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) January 13, 2014
seriously: How dim do you have to be to believe HALF of American kids are in poverty, for no better reason than you read it in @usatoday?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) January 13, 2014
who reads a sentence claiming "half of all kids in America are in poverty" and thinks, "Yup, that sounds about right to me"?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) January 13, 2014
not only that but the sentence DIDN'T actually say that. Apparently @corybooker had the T-Bone Audiobook Version of it.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) January 13, 2014
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/422865823808888832
I can't wait for legendary Twitter personality and stickler for truth, @CoryBooker, to tell his followers that the article isn't true.
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) January 13, 2014
https://twitter.com/GregMascera/status/422866824158384128
Why tweet such a misleading figure to your followers, especially if you’re a U.S. senator?
https://twitter.com/cathybuffaloe/status/422834808335523840
Probably for this reason.
@CoryBooker It's crushing that this country has half it's students living in poverty. Action must happen now.
— Maria Carmela (@RedRoof65) January 13, 2014
Editor’s note: The headline of this piece has been changed to read “students” rather than “children.” Twitchy regrets the error.