The left is still off its rocker.
Math Lessons Are Racist,
https://capitalresearch.org/article/math-lessons-are-racist-as-per-the-gates-foundation/
Loony Lessons
You may wonder where teachers have procured this loony idea. Unsurprisingly, the Gates Foundation is behind the push to label most traditional math instruction as white supremacist. In May of 2021, my last year teaching in public school, a free guide was published for all math teachers in California titled Dismantling Racism in Math Instruction: A Pathway to Equitable Instruction . The cover has a picture of a young black boy. The guide should be titled How to Teach Oppressed Black Kids Math or How to Dumb-Down Math So Black Kids Can Pass. I wish this were an exaggeration. The guide’s second and only other picture is of a young black girl—two visual representations of the students the guide is targeting.
As for the dumbing down, the point of the guide is to “dismantle white supremacy by making visible the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture with respect to math.” But what, pray tell, does the guide deem characteristics of white supremacy? It lists “perfectionism, sense of urgency, defensiveness, quantity over quality, worship of the written word, paternalism, either/or thinking, power hoarding, fear of open conflict, individualism, only one right way, progress is bigger, objectivity, right to comfort,” etc. So, of course, the guide emphasizes that getting the “right” answer in math should not be the focus; it should be understanding the concepts and reasoning. It also emphasizes making sure students learn about mathematicians of color, “particularly women of color and queers of color,” including guest lectures. Math teachers need to find the one queer black mathematician in their community to speak to their class, or their math instruction is seeped in white supremacy, apparently.
Math Lessons Are Racist,
as per the Gates Foundation
https://capitalresearch.org/article/math-lessons-are-racist-as-per-the-gates-foundation/
Loony Lessons
You may wonder where teachers have procured this loony idea. Unsurprisingly, the Gates Foundation is behind the push to label most traditional math instruction as white supremacist. In May of 2021, my last year teaching in public school, a free guide was published for all math teachers in California titled Dismantling Racism in Math Instruction: A Pathway to Equitable Instruction . The cover has a picture of a young black boy. The guide should be titled How to Teach Oppressed Black Kids Math or How to Dumb-Down Math So Black Kids Can Pass. I wish this were an exaggeration. The guide’s second and only other picture is of a young black girl—two visual representations of the students the guide is targeting.
As for the dumbing down, the point of the guide is to “dismantle white supremacy by making visible the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture with respect to math.” But what, pray tell, does the guide deem characteristics of white supremacy? It lists “perfectionism, sense of urgency, defensiveness, quantity over quality, worship of the written word, paternalism, either/or thinking, power hoarding, fear of open conflict, individualism, only one right way, progress is bigger, objectivity, right to comfort,” etc. So, of course, the guide emphasizes that getting the “right” answer in math should not be the focus; it should be understanding the concepts and reasoning. It also emphasizes making sure students learn about mathematicians of color, “particularly women of color and queers of color,” including guest lectures. Math teachers need to find the one queer black mathematician in their community to speak to their class, or their math instruction is seeped in white supremacy, apparently.
