Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Should social justice be part of math education in California schools?(Educrats Busted!!)
NY Times news service via San Francisco Examiner ^ | 11/05/2021 | Jacey Fortin

Posted on 11/07/2021 7:29:00 AM PST by Kid Shelleen

If everything had gone according to plan, California would have approved new guidelines this month for math education in public schools.

But ever since a draft was opened for public comment in February, the recommendations have set off a fierce debate over not only how to teach math, but also how to solve a problem more intractable than Fermat’s last theorem: closing the racial and socioeconomic disparities in achievement that persist at every level of math education.

----SNIP----

Critics of the draft said the authors would punish high achievers by limiting options for gifted programs. An open letter signed by hundreds of Californians working in science and technology described the draft as “an endless river of new pedagogical fads that effectively distort and displace actual math.”

(Excerpt) Read more at sfexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: California; US: New York; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: bidenvoters; california; criticalracetheory; crt; gavinnewsom; jaceyfortin; larryelder; mediawingofthednc; nancypelosi; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; sanfrancisco
Looks like the educrats were busted again. As soon as the curriculum went public holy hell broke loose.
What ever happened to Jaime Escalante (Stand and Deliver- 1988)?
1 posted on 11/07/2021 7:29:00 AM PST by Kid Shelleen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

Let children excell! Many won’t, but many will. What difference does it make who excels in what field? People have different skill sets and abilities. Don’t hold some back in order to make others feel better about themselves. This is stupid.


2 posted on 11/07/2021 7:32:23 AM PST by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

The prayer of every sharp child; Please, oh please, let me compete against CA publik skoolz grads for a tech job.

After all, we know that these dunces will be good only for civil servant, publik skoolz, and political positions. Oh, add liberal positions on the Supreme Court.


3 posted on 11/07/2021 7:32:39 AM PST by Da Coyote
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

Oh big shock!

It’s all because of “word problems” that math gets dragged into racism and social injustice.

I see how pathetically my sons former math book tried slipping curious names into word problems. Obviously trying to include various races and ethnicities.

One of the things I hate about this “diversity” obsession, is that it is extremely SELF-CONSCIOUS and UPTIGHT.

These people are like little sycophants scared of their own shadows. They’re terrified of being labeled as racist, because they didn’t make sure to show a black person here in their art or use some bizarre name like Moha’Teqa.


4 posted on 11/07/2021 7:43:52 AM PST by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

Regular math.
3 oranges plus 2 oranges equals how many oranges?

Woke math
25 to life with 10 years for good behaviour means you can get out when?
10 million people live in area X. How many voted for Xio Bei Din?
3 rocks of crack plus 2 rocks of crack equals how many rocks of crack?


5 posted on 11/07/2021 7:44:56 AM PST by Macoozie (Handcuffs and Orange Jumpsuits)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen
Buried deep in the article are these two important paragraphs:

The role of calculus has been a talking point among math educators for years, said Trena Wilkerson, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. “If calculus is not the be-all, end-all thing, then we need everyone to understand what the different pathways can be and how to prepare students for the future,” she said.

California’s recommendations aim to expand the options for high-level math, so that students could take courses in, say, data science or statistics without losing their edge on college applications. (The move requires buy-in from colleges; in recent years, the University of California system has deemphasized the importance of calculus credits.)

Calculus - both in terms of derivatives and integrals - underpins a vast amount of statistics and "data science" (which is basically using applied optimization algorithms when "n" is large). A simple regression line is based on deraviatives where the sum of squared errors is zero.

This is why calculus is required for business majors - for example, you can't fully grasp economic fundamentals without understanding area under a curve or the slope of a point if tangency.

I'm all for altering word problems to make them relevant. I really didn't give a rip about science-related word problems but put a dollar sign in front of them, and they're exciting. But dropping calculus is idiocy.

And replacing calculus with stats and "data science" is like throwing non-swimmers into a 20-foot deep lake.

6 posted on 11/07/2021 7:48:48 AM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2 )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen
“We have a state and nation that hates math and is not doing well with it.” -- Jo Boaler, Professor of Education at Stanford University

But damn are kids are good at selecting their own gender and picking their own personal pronouns. If you kids work hard at your Wokeism, you too can become a four-star admiral.


7 posted on 11/07/2021 7:49:03 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (“…in any great disaster, there's a Harvard man in the middle of it.” ~ Thomas Sowell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Macoozie

A favorite of mine is the big dog teaching the little dog math:

“if farmer Jones gives you three bones, then takes away two, how many fingers does farmer Jones have left?”


8 posted on 11/07/2021 7:50:15 AM PST by FMBass (USN DE-1074 NNTaleb fan )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen
Math is one of those subjects the Left has a problem with because there is a correct answer and an incorrect answer. No fuzzy areas where someone can weasel their way around.(yeah, we'll leave statistics for another day...)

The Left wants to destroy it because they can't twist it.

9 posted on 11/07/2021 7:52:13 AM PST by Tench_Coxe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob

Yeah. Of course substitute statistics for calculus. Statistics can be “interpreted”.


10 posted on 11/07/2021 7:54:47 AM PST by Tench_Coxe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

You make kids do the math and damn the woke consequences. I work at a place with a lot of black engineers and analysts. Math can be a slog for many but persistence and the odd epiphany pays off. I needed to know why I was learning each piece of math rather than someone just say learn it and jam it down my throat so it was hard for me. I sucked at math at school but I worked hard to learn it
For many it is a cultural issue (work in the family bisiness), some economic (money in the pocket is better than some learning that they see no value in), others the family never pushes it, most of rest go in to social services and let others make money for them to spend.


11 posted on 11/07/2021 7:59:25 AM PST by Liaison (TANSTAAFL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

No matter whether you are counting how many apples are in the crate or how many times George Floyd said I can’t breathe under a cop’s knee, 2 plus 2 will still equal 3 in a hood school.


12 posted on 11/07/2021 8:02:09 AM PST by chuckee ( from front pages)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob

Trena Wilkerson, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.


I taught math, among other things, for many years, but I never considered myself a math teacher. But for those who don’t know, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is the source for most of the crazy ideas in the math curriculum.

Remember ‘Modern Math’ from the late 60s? That came from the NCTM. In my first real teaching job, I was teaching 4th and 5th graders how to calculate problems in base 6! That knowledge sure did those kids a whole lot of good. /s

The drive to eliminate rote memorization of the times tables, also comes from the NCTM. I have seen 8th graders resort to their calculators to do a simple problem like 6 x 8. If they accidentally hit a 5 instead of the 6 they are quite happy to put down 40 as their answer.

I do understand why the NCTM do what they do. Nearly all of them loved math all their lives, were reasonably good at it and enjoyed discovering its beauty on their own. They found the memorization a drills boring and they want to see students discover the patterns of math on their own. But they neglect or reject the fact that most humans don’t love math but use it as a tool to solve problems. So they develop teaching methods that might be useful for the 5% who are gifted in math, but which handicap the 95% who are not.


13 posted on 11/07/2021 8:04:50 AM PST by hanamizu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen
Critics of the draft said the authors would punish high achievers by limiting options for gifted programs. An open letter signed by hundreds of Californians working in science and technology described the draft as “an endless river of new pedagogical fads that effectively distort and displace actual math.”

The Asians who regularly vote Democrat in California aren't going to like any of this.
14 posted on 11/07/2021 8:32:00 AM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

People who think statistics is somehow easier than calculus are fools

California has a good junior college system where people can make up math deficiencies or learn it for the first time


15 posted on 11/07/2021 8:43:07 AM PST by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bk1000

In high school math was my enemy. Then I went to college to be an accountant. Had to take every math class there was. I worked at it and worked at it til one day a light bulb went off in my head and it all just clicked. Flew through beginning, intermediate, and advanced algebra.


16 posted on 11/07/2021 8:44:04 AM PST by sheana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: sheana

“ In high school math was my enemy.”

Mine too! I never “got it” until electronics school, where it became a useful tool to me. Once it finally clicks, it’s all good.


17 posted on 11/07/2021 8:54:23 AM PST by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Macoozie

Funny post.

But shouldn’t you tell the suspenseful math answer to the regular oranges question?
I mean for the many people who dropped out of math classes because math is racist.

I cheated because I know laptops have calculator software inside them, hidden in there.


18 posted on 11/07/2021 9:00:17 AM PST by frank ballenger (You have summoned up a thundercloud. You're gonna hear from me. Anthem by Leonard Cohen)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

California is on stolen land and must be returned to Mexico.


19 posted on 11/07/2021 4:08:57 PM PST by NoLibZone (Ruling class noticed our total lack of pushback for how the election & Covid was handled.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: the OlLine Rebel

FINE. Use barnyard animals or cartoon characers as word problem subjects.

“If it takes half a hen half an hour to lay half an egg, how long ‘s it take a rooster to lay a brass doorknob?”

THAT’LL put a bung in ‘em!


20 posted on 11/07/2021 8:07:31 PM PST by HKMk23 (The right of freedom of religion shall not be derogated even if the life of the nation is at stake.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson