It seems that someone in California has come to the realization that ‘woke’ math is going to “de-mathematize math.”
That’s not a surprise to anyone who uses mathematics as part of their job. You know, engineers, physicists, chemists, accountants, financiers, mathematicians, rocket scientists, and so on. Now it appears that aforementioned ‘someone’ in California realizes politicizing math, i.e. ‘woke’ math that actually has little to do with actual math, is not such a good idea.
The California Board of Education will not implement its newly proposed mathematics curriculum after critics argued its racial equality components would “de-mathematize math.”This push for ‘equity’ in math is misguided as in the end it will push ‘expertise’ in math to the lowest common denominator, just the opposite of what is needed. Why anyone thinks equity when it comes to anything in life is a good idea escapes me.
California is on the verge of politicizing K-12 math in a potentially disastrous way. 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,” said Dr. Williamson M. Evers, a senior fellow at the Independent Institute, in a statement following an open letter he pinned (sic) to California’s education and political leaders.
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The letter goes on to argue that attention to non-math-related ideals — such as "environmental and social justice," "sociopolitical consciousness," and "problems that result in social inequalities" — would shift instruction away from the actual subject of the course.
“This proposed framework will discourage districts from having advanced classes for gifted students. It’s going to block the rise of talented kids to important roles in society, serving us as engineers, getting rockets in the air, and getting bridges built properly,” Evers argued in the letter.
He added: "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.”
Those pushing for equity haven’t thought it through, don’t realize exactly what equity means and how it will make everything worse.
The best case outcome would be the dystopian world of Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron. The worse case would be a return to feudal society were everyone (except the elite, i.e. the ‘nobles’) would live a hand-to-mouth existence under the rule of the elite. Under either case, or anything in between, those pushing for equity and understanding what it means automatically think they will be the ones in charge. But most of them are more likely to end up as one of the unwashed masses as the elite doesn’t like competition.
Will this same push for ‘equity’ in math also apply to Science, to History, to Civics, to English, to all subjects? Lord, I hope not because then children will learn nothing of any value, but they’ll be well indoctrinated and will be qualified to be a menial laborer, but not much more.
Yeah, that’s something to strive for.