As someone who works in the field of statistics and has a master’s degree in Applied Mathematics, I find it irritating when someone tells me that Math is racist. The only thing that’s racist is how the education community rolls out garbage math programs to the low income and black communities that avoids practice, repetition, and automaticity of math facts.
Case in point:
Camden NJ, Trenton NJ, Willingboro NJ, have Eureka Math (previously EngageNY Math). Eureka Math “equates mathematical concepts to stories, with the aim of developing conceptual understanding. Like Common Core, it encourages students to use various mental strategies to solve problems, and to focus on the process instead of the answer.”
Princeton public school’s math is custom. They state on their website, “The Mathematics Department believes that every student is entitled to and deserves an excellent mathematics education that encourages each student to achieve at a high level. We believe in creating classroom discourse that promotes and values mathematical reasoning; creating, critiquing, and revising arguments; and engaging in collaborations that position students as competent “doers” of mathematics (Berry, 2018). We believe that by inviting students to engage in this deliberate practice, being transparent about the end value of the practice, and providing constructive feedback enhances student thinking and learning (Hattie, 2016). Ultimately, the goal of our department is to support and develop students’ identities as learners of mathematics (Anderson, 2007).”
Princeton wants the children to become competent “doers” in mathematics and the schools in minority communities want the kids to focus on the process and not worry about getting a correct answer. Its pretty clear what is happening here. The racists are the ones who dumb the math down in these poorer communities, forcing kids to be behind.
But of course, that’s not the focus of New Jersey's Radical Pedagogy Institute. they want to “Rehumanize Mathematics” , “Centering Equity in Math Education” “Lets Queer Math… Queering Mathematics: Disrupting Binary Oppositions in Mathematics Pre-service Teacher Education.”
There are claims that the MAIN problem with math is. we need to make math more inclusive for non binary people or else they won’t like math or be able to do well in math. Sure, kids won’t like math because there aren’t enough “they/them” in the word problems, has nothing to do with the fact that most kids are not proficient in fraction operations by the time they get to high school. 🙄
Activism groups want to create more woke garbage that won’t advance our kids for future careers.
How can we just get back to basic education, ensuring our kids are well prepared to do something as simple as count back change?
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This was a great newsletter! One of my biggest issues with the math being taught in the public schools here.