In the Name of Equity, California Will Discourage Students Who Are Gifted at Math

by Maddog Sat May 08, 2021 12:11 am

California's Department of Education is working on a new framework for K-12 mathematics that discourages gifted students from enrolling in accelerated classes that study advanced concepts like calculus.

The draft of the framework is hundreds of pages long and covers a wide range of topics. But its overriding concern is inequity. The department is worried that too many students are sorted into different math tracks based on their natural abilities, which leads some to take calculus by their senior year of high school while others don't make it past basic algebra. The department's solution is to prohibit any sorting until high school, keeping gifted kids in the same classrooms as their less mathematically inclined peers until at least grade nine.

"The inequity of mathematics tracking in California can be undone through a coordinated approach in grades 6–12," reads a January 2021 draft of the framework. "In summary, middle-school students are best served in heterogeneous classes."

In fact, the framework concludes that calculus is overvalued, even for gifted students.

"The push to calculus in grade twelve is itself misguided," says the framework.

As evidence for this claim, the framework cites the fact that many students who take calculus end up having to retake it in college anyway. Of course, de-prioritizing instruction in high school calculus would not really solve this problem—and in fact would likely make it worse—but the department does not seem overly worried. The framework's overriding perspective is that teaching the tough stuff is college's problem: The K-12 system should concern itself with making every kid fall in love with math.

https://reason.com/2021/05/04/california-math-framework-woke-equity-calculus/?itm_source=parsely-api

Yeah, then kids will fall further behind foreign competition, especially in STEM classes, and then we will be told the problem is a lack of funding.

by eddie Sat May 08, 2021 12:22 am

Nutshell please.

Why are they discouraging people who are gifted at maths?

by Maddog Sat May 08, 2021 12:29 am

eddie wrote:Nutshell please.

Why are they discouraging people who are gifted at maths?

Because it results in kids being separated by ability.

by eddie Sat May 08, 2021 12:36 am

Maddog wrote:
eddie wrote:Nutshell please.

Why are they discouraging people who are gifted at maths?

Because it results in kids being separated by ability.

Ahhhh. And let’s not separate people if they’re good or bad! Because that’s not how the world works!

Fucking hell. What a sad little society. Be good...but not too good....

Let me tell you. I don’t wanna live in that mentality.

by Maddog Sat May 08, 2021 12:40 am

eddie wrote:
Maddog wrote:

Because it results in kids being separated by ability.

Ahhhh. And let’s not separate people if they’re good or bad! Because that’s not how the world works!

Fucking hell. What a sad little society. Be good...but not too good....

Let me tell you. I don’t wanna live in that mentality.

It's the "don't keep score and everyone gets a trophy" mentality.

And then they go here................

The entire second chapter of the framework is about connecting math to social justice concepts like bias and racism: "Teachers can support discussions that center mathematical reasoning rather than issues of status and bias by intentionally defining what it means to do and learn mathematics together in ways that include and highlight the languages, identities, and practices of historically marginalized communities." Teachers should also think creatively about what math even entails: "To encourage truly equitable and engaging mathematics classrooms we need to broaden perceptions of mathematics beyond methods and answers so that students come to view mathematics as a connected, multi-dimensional subject that is about sense making and reasoning, to which they can contribute and belong."

Fuck me. It's math, not philosophy.

by eddie Sat May 08, 2021 12:48 am

I remember my son when he was about six, and he won a race on sports day at his school. He came out of school and said to me

“Well we all won a medal for competing, but I won! I won’t be bothering again”

I told him that was bullshit. That you either won the race or you didn’t. Fuck the school...you won.

by Ben Reilly Sat May 08, 2021 12:54 am

Wow, this happened to me in Texas in the early 90s, so I guess California is finally catching up?

When I was in school we took Pre-Algebra in eighth grade and didn't study any advanced mathematics until high school. Which is exactly what California is doing, with one crucial difference -- now it can be tarred and feathered as a woke, lefty agenda to turn our kids into socialists by denying them access to algebra until they're at least 15.

The whole story smacks of bullshit, biased reporting, serving an anti-government agenda.

by Syl Sat May 08, 2021 1:26 am

Some schools dont even have sports day now because they dont encourage winning or losing. Rolling Eyes

Losing especially is a good thing for kids to experience, it's a valuable life lesson.

by Maddog Sat May 08, 2021 1:44 am

Ben Reilly wrote:Wow, this happened to me in Texas in the early 90s, so I guess California is finally catching up?

When I was in school we took Pre-Algebra in eighth grade and didn't study any advanced mathematics until high school. Which is exactly what California is doing, with one crucial difference -- now it can be tarred and feathered as a woke, lefty agenda to turn our kids into socialists by denying them access to algebra until they're at least 15.

The whole story smacks of bullshit, biased reporting, serving an anti-government agenda.

"The push to calculus in grade twelve is itself misguided," says the framework."

by Maddog Sat May 08, 2021 1:47 am

"All students deserve powerful mathematics; we reject ideas of natural gifts and talents," reads a bulletpoint in chapter one of the framework. "The belief that 'I treat everyone the same' is insufficient: Active efforts in mathematics teaching are required in order to counter the cultural forces that have led to and continue to perpetuate current inequities."

by Original Quill Sat May 08, 2021 3:48 pm

Ben wrote:The whole story smacks of bullshit, biased reporting, serving an anti-government agenda.

Wiki wrote:Reason.com is a libertarian magazine published monthly in the United States by the Reason Foundation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason_(magazine)#:~:text=Reason%20is%20a%20libertarian%20magazine,2004%20by%20the%20Chicago%20Tribune.

by Tommy Monk Sat May 08, 2021 4:49 pm

Bright people must be dumbed down so to create a society where everybody is equally stupid...

by Maddog Sat May 08, 2021 5:07 pm

Tommy Monk wrote:

Bright people must be dumbed down so to create a society where everybody is equally stupid...

And what does race have to do with mathmatics. While race should be discussed in school, math class isn't the place. And not having calculus in high school because it's racist or some shit is asinine.

by Ben Reilly Sat May 08, 2021 10:42 pm

Why are so many people here just taking this story at face value, and accepting Reason.com's interpretation of the proposal? The writer of this article has taken some very vague, frankly annoyingly flowery language and put a very specific interpretation on it. And not given a single author of the policy the chance to defend it.

Also, you know what? Not every student should be steered toward taking calculus, regardless of which year it's in.

Not to mention, the ironic thing about maths is that it's pure logic, but the process of learning it is full of emotional blocks -- I remember crying and feeling worthless when I couldn't master long division as a kid. It's full of stereotypes -- Asians are good at it, girls are bad at it. I've felt since childhood that maths should be taught with more sensitivity.

by eddie Sat May 08, 2021 10:47 pm

I tend to agree with your first paragraph. Has this article been double-checked?

by Maddog Sat May 08, 2021 11:43 pm

Ben Reilly wrote:Why are so many people here just taking this story at face value, and accepting Reason.com's interpretation of the proposal? The writer of this article has taken some very vague, frankly annoyingly flowery language and put a very specific interpretation on it. And not given a single author of the policy the chance to defend it.

Also, you know what? Not every student should be steered toward taking calculus, regardless of which year it's in.

Not to mention, the ironic thing about maths is that it's pure logic, but the process of learning it is full of emotional blocks -- I remember crying and feeling worthless when I couldn't master long division as a kid. It's full of stereotypes -- Asians are good at it, girls are bad at it. I've felt since childhood that maths should be taught with more sensitivity.

The link to the proposal is in the article. Click on it and read it.

Reason does a very good job of citing all government studies and proposals in their articles..

Amd you're missing the crux of the proposal. It's not that all kids should be steerer towards calculus, but that all should be steered away.

I have 3 daughters. Two stayed a million fucking miles from calculus in high school (can't blame them, it sucks). One however took both calculus and physics in high school which is one reason she got accepted to the A&M school of engineering. They want students that have already displayed an ability in higher level math.

by Maddog Sat May 08, 2021 11:43 pm

eddie wrote:I tend to agree with your first paragraph. Has this article been double-checked?

Go to the link. The sources are well cited.

by Maddog Sat May 08, 2021 11:53 pm

How to read a Reason story.

1 click on the link and read (this is important)

2 look for comments in quotes. These are actual verbatim quotes from studies or articles.

3 look for underlined words. These are links to the studies or article mentioned in the quotes.

by eddie Sun May 09, 2021 12:08 am

Maddog wrote:
eddie wrote:I tend to agree with your first paragraph. Has this article been double-checked?

Go to the link. The sources are well cited.

Okay fair enough.

by eddie Sun May 09, 2021 12:10 am

Maddog wrote:How to read a Reason story.

1 click on the link and read (this is important)

2 look for comments in quotes. These are actual verbatim quotes from studies or articles.

3 look for underlined words. These are links to the studies or article mentioned in the quotes.

Okay, okay. I sense your frustration with us lazy arse non-link-clickers. Basketball

by Maddog Sun May 09, 2021 3:32 am

eddie wrote:
Maddog wrote:How to read a Reason story.

1 click on the link and read (this is important)

2 look for comments in quotes. These are actual verbatim quotes from studies or articles.

3 look for underlined words. These are links to the studies or article mentioned in the quotes.

Okay, okay. I sense your frustration with us lazy arse non-link-clickers.

It's really the only way to discuss many of these topics. You have to read 10-100 times as many words as you type.

by Ben Reilly Wed May 12, 2021 8:39 pm

Okay, so let's go ahead and unravel this thread.

Why has not one single mainstream media outlet reported that California wants to discourage gifted math students from taking advanced math?

by Maddog Wed May 12, 2021 11:32 pm

Ben Reilly wrote:Okay, so let's go ahead and unravel this thread.

Why has not one single mainstream media outlet reported that California wants to discourage gifted math students from taking advanced math?

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/cf/mathfwrevtimeline2021.asp

Because they are too lazy to read through all of this bullshit.

by Maddog Wed May 12, 2021 11:35 pm

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/cf/index.asp

And here.

I don't have the software to open "Chapter 2: Teaching for Equity and Engagement(DOCX)"

Enjoy.

by Maddog Thu May 13, 2021 6:31 pm

Has anyone read the 300 page report or are we just going with the idea that it's all made up because it says something we don't want to hear?

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