I found this article a few days ago, and I was going to post a short diatribe, but you know how it is. You get busy. Time gets away from you, and moves on. Time cares for none of us. The article is from Fox News about a teacher program in Oregon that "seeks to undo 'racism in mathematics.'"
An ODE newsletter sent last week advertises a Feb. 21 "Pathway to Math Equity Micro-Course," which is designed for middle school teachers to make use of a toolkit for "dismantling racism in mathematics." The event website identifies the event as a partnership between California's San Mateo County Office of Education, The Education Trust-West and others.
Part of the toolkit includes a list of ways "white supremacy culture" allegedly "infiltrates math classrooms." Those include "the focus is on getting the 'right' answer," students being "required to 'show their work,'" and other alleged manifestations.
"The concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false, and teaching it is even much less so," the document for the "Equitable Math" toolkit reads. "Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict."
The ODE, led by Colt Gill, confirmed the letter to Fox News. ODE Communications Director Marc Siegel also defended the "Equitable Math" educational program, saying it "helps educators learn key tools for engagement, develop strategies to improve equitable outcomes for Black, Latinx, and multilingual students, and join communities of practice."
Here is a link to the Dismantling Racism workbook. Going through it, I learned that "worship of the written word promotes 'white supremacist thinking' and is one characteristic of white supremacy," which apparently is rampant in American society.
• if it’s not in a memo, it doesn’t exist
• the organization does not take into account or value other ways in which information gets shared• those with strong documentation and writing skills are more highly valued, even in organizations where ability to relate to others is key to the mission
Another characteristic of white supremacy is objectivity.
• the belief that there is such a thing as being objective or ‘neutral’
• the belief that emotions are inherently destructive, irrational, and should not play a role in decision-making or group process
• invalidating people who show emotion
• requiring people to think in a linear (logical) fashion and ignoring or invalidating those who think in other ways
• impatience with any thinking that does not appear ‘logical’
In the toolkit, entitled "A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction" we learn that teachers should
DESIGN A CULTURALLY SUSTAINING MATH SPACE
• Use culturally relevant, antiracist pedagogy, practices, and curriculum.
• Cultivate mathematical identity so that everyone can see themselves as mathematicians.
• Adapt homework policies to fit the needs of students of color.
•Recognize and name the mathematical successes of students of color, and teach them to recognize successes in themselves and others.
• Intentionally integrate physical movement in math classes.
CENTER ETHNOMATHEMATICS
• Recognize the ways that communities of color engage in mathematics and problem solving in their everyday lives.
• Teach that mathematics can help solve problems affecting students’ communities. Model the use of math as a solution to their immediate problems, needs, or desires.
• Identify and challenge the ways that math is used to uphold capitalist, imperialist, and racist views.
• Teach the value of math as both an abstract concept and as a useful everyday tool.
• Expose students to examples of people who have used math as resistance. Provide learning opportunities that use math as resistance
There are 82 pages of crazy.
Teachers already have enough to do in the classroom without adding another layer non-educational indoctrination replacing teaching and engaging in the further dumbing down of American education, especially when so few high school graduates currently are proficient in math.
Making this even worse is that this program was paid for by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
A radical new push to purge math curricula of allegedly racist practices like showing your work and finding the correct answer is bankrolled by one of the nation's most prominent nonprofits: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Gates Foundation is the only donor mentioned on the homepage of A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction, a group of 25 education organizations whose curriculum states that asking students to show their work and find the right answer is an inherently racist practice.
Over the past decade, the Gates Foundation has given upward of $140 million to some of the groups behind Pathway, whose antiracist resources are the basis for a new teacher training course offered by the Oregon Department of Education.
The Education Trust, a California-based group that promoted the September release of Pathway's antiracist "toolkit," has received $86 million from the Gates Foundation, including a $3.6 million grant awarded in June.
Teach Plus, another group dedicated to creating an antiracist culture in K-12 schools, has received more than $27 million from the Gates Foundation. The group's board members include former Democratic congressman George Miller and Obama-era secretary of education John King Jr.—who is also the president of The Education Trust.
I wonder, with these new obstructions to math education being added in Oregon, and which will surely be added to other states' math curricula, how many potential Microsoft employees will have their math skills hobbled to the point where they have no chance of performing the tasks necessary to work creating the next generations of computers, programs, phones, and other high tech gadgets.
