Posted on 07/13/2021 3:04:48 PM PDT by blam
The California Board of Education is set to postpone implementing a proposed overhaul of its mathematics curriculum during a Wednesday meeting after opponents argued the plan could harm students by needlessly inserting politics and social justice initiatives into lessons, Fox News reported on Tuesday.
The board apparently intends to delay a final decision on the curriculum to next May.
"California is on the verge of politicizing K-12 math in a potentially disastrous way,” Dr. Williamson M. Evers, a senior fellow of the Independent Institute, said in a statement. “This postponement means the State Board of Education has heard the message loud and clear. STEM leaders don’t want California students left behind by introducing politics into the math curriculum.”
The board’s reconsideration of the initiative comes after hundreds of former and current experts working in science, math, and engineering, as well as others fields, signed an open letter that criticized the plan.
"For all the rhetoric in this framework about equity, social justice, environmental care and culturally appropriate pedagogy, there is no realistic hope for a more fair, just, equal and well-stewarded society if our schools uproot long-proven, reliable and highly effective math methods and instead try to build a mathless Brave New World on a foundation of unsound ideology," the letter reads.
According to drafts of the framework, the new curriculum would focus on equity to recognize "that mathematics, over the years, has developed in a way that has excluded many students," adding that because of inequities, "teachers need to work consciously to counter racialized or gendered ideas about mathematics achievement."
"All students deserve powerful mathematics; we reject ideas of natural gifts and talents," according to a bullet point in the framework. "The belief that 'I treat everyone the same' is insufficient: Active efforts in mathematics teaching are required
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
“we reject ideas of natural gifts and talents”
That’s just asinine. Anyone who is this demented should not be anywhere near any schoolchildren ever.
Californian math question: If a white man works for $10 an hour, how much did he steal from the black man who works the same job for the same pay?
California is sick and tired of those smart Asian kids—they are determined to make them as dumb as everyone else.
Climate Emergency is totally based on Math.
To eschew Math is to eschew Climate Emergency.
THAT’s a Keeper.
Thanks.
yep!
If 2 terrorists are burning down 1 business then how many white racists are at fault?
Geometry is not “higher math” !
In fact its pretty basic.
Its important because for many it will probably be the only time in their lives where they have to think logically, precisely, avoid irrelevancies & present reasons for their thinking. Perhaps most important of all experience that their feelings about getting to the result the does not matter !
Nothing you listed is actually “higher math” except perhaps Calculus. All is within the reach of a high school student if they apply themselves even Calculus. I admit that math is poorly taught by even more poorly prepared teachers at the K12 level. Inadequately prepared math teachers is something we’ve tolerated for years but shouldn’t have ! However students and parents have a deep responsibility in this too. Learning math takes work, effort, drill, drill, drill and more drill ! Very repetitive so boring ! Also repetition i.e, drill is out of favor with the educrats. For some reason we are fine with repetitive drill in sports. Kids, parents, etc. and I say this as someone who played HS sports have no problem with those sports drills. At least have part of that acceptance thats for sports drill be applied to K12 math. (All it would take is a small bit of acceptance !) Maybe they won’t make the best grades, maybe they’ll just pass or struggle and get a “C”. Few can be a college or pro athlete and we’re fine with that, even fewer can be John Nash we need to be fine with that too. The “struggle” is educational in itself as much as for character as for math knowledge. Actually more so !
Continued dumbing down curriculum and looking for Barbie-like “Math is hard !” excuses to do it needs to stop. Stop in all subjects not just math. The truth is math might be hard but life is harder particularly if you always choose the easy “not hard” path !
Math Social Justice Curriculum?
Stupid beyond belief!!!
And we wonder why we have fallen so low in worldwide education ratings? HA!!!
There should be a major boycott of public education in this nation.
Pray that people rediscover how great God is....
They’ve spent so much on STEM iniatives that haven’t worked they now have to find a new way to screw children out if a good education
Rd later.
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