A growing group of distinguished scientists and mathematicians signed a letter condemning the “woke math” takeover in K-12 schools.
www.dailysignal.com
One thing not mentioned in the article are the backwards incentives facing teacher's unions. It's much, much easier to teach this woke crap than it is to teach kids math.
There are many issues bundled up in this.
This traces back to the work of Virginia Collier and other writings of Noam Chomsky.
There would be no math without the language to describe it. There would be no science without the language to describe it or the math to measure it. A toddler does not understand anything if they don't have a word for it. We can thank language for alllowing civiliazation.
When a school has a predominantly latino or african american students they are still bound to high levels of instruction. If the students are not fluent in English, (like Eubonics in CA, or living in a Spanish speaking household ) the language barrier prevents full math instruction. This is a question of meeting the needs of students who are still learning common English.
So if a student isn't fluent in English, they may sit in front of dynamic classroom discussions about math and not recognize anything, just like the toddler that doesn't have the word for the concept.
The math ( just talking about the math and instructional plan ) they describe is nationwide with two main exceptions; IMO it's a dumb idea to discourage "show your work" since that it a learning opportunity, say a week later, to trace back and find the mistake that led to an incorrect answer. THe other departure from common practices is just as foolish, that the right answer is not a specified goal. Teachers can reward the hard work students do, even if their answers are wrong. This works because students are motivated to get it right next time when they know they are on the right track. A good teaher turns a wrong answer into a learning event. But to say that the correct answer isn't important sends a counterproductive message.
The real problem with this is that the non political methods of math instruction are couched in terms of racism. It's not about race, they're wrong about that , it's a question of using langauge in the classroom that makes math accessible no matter what is spoken at home. (ESL instruction, again , getting abck to the research provided by Virginia Collier )
THe methods they are talking about are largely common practice nationwide.
The math itself is exactly the same math it always was. And the answers are the same too. THe regrettable difference in this FRINGE educational perspective is that somehow math is political. That's the shame, the politics are the shame of this,
but not the math !!!
