Opponents of California’s proposed updated math curriculum have forced the state to postpone implementing the changes that were slated to insert social justice themes into math classes.
From Fox News:
“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 in a statement Dr. Williamson M. Evers, a senior fellow of the Independent Institute.
A coalition of hundreds of STEM professionals and venture capitalists were behind the effort to stall the new math curriculum, which they claimed will “de-mathematize math” in favor of teaching “environmental and social justice.”:
“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,” the letter reads.
Drafts of the framework show the new curriculum would focus on equity to recognize “that mathematics, over the years, has developed in a way that has excluded many students.” It adds that because of inequities, “teachers need to work consciously to counter racialized or gendered ideas about mathematics achievement.”
The framework of the updated curriculum also included a bullet point that declared “we reject ideas of natural gifts and talents,” while claiming that the new curriculum would combat “cultural forces that have led to and continue to perpetuate current inequities.”
The story comes amid national debate over teaching critical race theory in public schools, with 27 states launching efforts to restrict teaching of the theory in classrooms.
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