Tag Archives: racism in mathematics

Would You Drive Over A Bridge Built By These People?

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The U.K. Daily Mail posted an article yesterday about a ‘Dismantling Racism in Mathematics’ program which tells teachers not to push students to find the correct answers to math problems because doing so promotes white supremacy. Do you want to drive over a bridge designed by an engineer who did not believe that math problems have a correct answer?

The article reports:

The program is centered around a workbook for teachers entitled ‘A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction’ which asserts that America’s education system – even mathematics instruction – reinforces the dominant power structures of white colonizers. 

Grading students, asking them to show their work, requiring participation and even pushing them to get the right answer are depicted in the workbook as harmful to minorities.  

The workbook was created by Oakland, California-based advocacy group The Education Trust-West under its ‘Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction’ initiative, which is funded through a $1million grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

So far, the workbook is being used by school districts in Georgia, Ohio, California and Oregon, according to education news site The 74 Million.

It’s part of a larger push nationwide to have students learn about critical race theory, which teaches that racism against minorities is embedded in every aspect of life – even in something as seemingly cut-and-dry as math. 

But many critics of the workbook say it actually reinforces negative stereotypes and drives wedges between students according to their race. 

‘The workbook’s ultimate message is clear: Black kids are bad at math, so why don’t we just excuse them from really learning it,’ Erec Smith, a professor of rhetoric and composition at York College of Pennsylvania and co-founder of Free Black Thought, told The 74 Million. 

Those of us who believe that black kids are as good at math as white kids find this whole thing offensive. Education is the ticket out of poverty in America. To decide that someone is not capable of learning because of their race is racist. It also denies then the opportunity to excel in the future. The idea that math has no correct answers is not only ridiculous, it is dangerous to the future success of American children.

It’s Time For All Parents To Remove Their Children From Public Schools

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I am the product of a public-school education. There were times during that education that teachers attempted to push their political views on their students, but in the 50’s and 60’s that was the exception rather than the rule. Things have changed. Not only are teachers pushing political views, they are pushing totally insane ideas.

On Saturday The Daily Wire reported the following:

The Oregon Department of Education is promoting a program for teachers that seeks to “disman[tle] racism in mathematics,” alleging that focusing on finding the right answer is a symbol of white supremacy.

Lord help us if those who believe that finding the right answer is a symbol of white supremacy become engineers and build buildings and bridges. They could give a whole new meaning to a collapsing society.

The article continues:

Fox News reported that the ODE sent out a newsletter last week that mentions a “Pathway to Math Equity Micro-Course” that will occur on February 21. The course, according to Fox, is designed for middle school teachers to make use of a toolkit for ‘dismantling racism in mathematics.’”

The newsletter encourages teachers to sign up for the training, which the New York Post previously reported includes a section with 14 things associated with “White Supremacy Culture,” including perfectionism, objectivity, and individualism.

Objectivity is described in the workbook accompanying the training as “the belief that there is such a thing as being objective or ‘neutral.’” The program’s toolkit also encourages teachers not to focus on a single correct answer, but to “come up with at least two answers that might solve this problem” and to “Challenge standardized test questions by getting the ‘right’ answer, but justify other answers by unpacking the assumptions that are made in the problem.”

The toolkit also asks instructors to “center ethnomathematics” in multiple ways, one of which is to “identify and challenge the ways that math is used to uphold capitalist, imperialist, and racist views.”

The inmates are running the asylum. Meanwhile our children are still not allowed to physically go back to school. It’s time for a parents’ revolt.