New Social Justice Standards in Seattle Will Teach How Math Has Been ‘Appropriated’ by Western Culture
Shane Trejo
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Mathematics in the Seattle school district will soon involve teachings about how the study was “appropriated” by Western culture as apart of a movement to “rehumanize” math if the social justice bureaucrats get their way.
The proposed new K-12 framework will focus on how math has been used by Western culture to foment systems of oppression. One such teaching will focus on math’s origins “in the ancient histories of people and empires of color.” Another will explore how math is used to oppress marginalized groups, and how power dynamics are wielded in the math classroom.
This is being done as apart of a nationwide movement to inject ethnic studies across the entire curriculum, even into areas such as math where it doesn’t make much sense. Educational professionals hope to export this type of math teaching throughout every school district in the country before long.
“Seattle is definitely on the forefront with this,” said Robert Q. Berry III, the president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). “What they’re doing follows the line of work we hope we can move forward as we think about the history of math and who contributes to that, and also about deepening students’ connection with identity and agency.”
The NCTM made these recommendations in a report issued at their annual conference in 2018. They argued that the Algebra-Geometry-Algebra 2 trifecta that has been the bedrock standard for generations must evolve to conform with social justice norms.
There will be less of an emphasis toward “getting the right answer” in the new guidelines. There will also be a move against “remedial” and “honors” courses because they feel they are harmful for the feelings of minority students.
“Tracking … in some cases puts students into terminal mathematics course pathways that are not mathematically meaningful and do not prepare them for any continued study of fundamental mathematics concepts,” the NCTM report said.
The curriculum is largely based off the idea of ethnomathematics, which was created out of whole cloth in the 1970s by Brazilian math professor Ubiratàn D’Ambrosio. Rochelle Gutiérrez of the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign has championed the idea of “rehumanizing” math in recent years.
“Math education has been very focused on access and closing the achievement gap, around grit and growth mindset. Those ideas are centered around individuals, and ways of thinking they need to adopt. We haven’t focused enough on identity or systems of power,” Gutiérrez said.
“Students should be able to see themselves in the curriculum, recognize math as a tool for making their lives better, and question what math is, and the purpose of math,” she said.
It will not be long before the new social justice math is pushed in every public school district, as liberal academics devise devious schemes to propagandize precocious students against Western Civilization.
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