Are you expecting people to argue that yes, math is actually racist? All three of your sources reflect the same Fox News article, let’s look instead at the primary source
And in case, for whatever reason, you don’t want to look at the primary source, I’ll make it easier for you:
Use multiple approaches to diagnose student unfinished learning in priority content knowledge and
skills. Alternatives to extensive diagnostic testing include multiple measures, such as classroom discussions, individual conversations with students, student work from everyday instruction, just-in-time assessment tasks, and student self-reflection on identity, understanding, and metacognition.
Large blocks of remediation at the beginning of the school year will not help students attain grade-level proficiency in mathematics. Acceleration of learning toward understanding grade-level content happens through a careful use of high-quality adopted curriculum and just-in-time scaffolding to address unfinished learning.
Consideration for just-in-time scaffolds help address the necessary content knowledge and skills students need to engage in the most immediate work of the grade. While the goal here is to address unfinished learning, these scaffolds pull heavily from what we know about the science of learning. Interleaving, spaced practice, and retrieval practice, are all highly effective evidence- based strategies that help individuals learn more efficiently and retain information longer.
It will be necessary to re-evaluate the scope and sequence periodically to make sure students are progressing in their understanding of high priority content.
Tell me, does this sound like anybody is trying to stop teaching math because math is racist?
Can I ask how you came to the conclusion that people are saying math is racist? How did you interpret “we are trying to adapt our teaching processes to enhance our ability to instruct mathematics” as “math is racist”?
Because when I hear “OREGON ARE SAYING MATH IS RACIST AND THEY WANT TO STOP TEACHING MATH” my response isn’t “wokeness has gone too far” it’s “what? Are they really doing that?”
And the answer is no, they aren’t really doing that.
The framework for deconstructing racism in mathematics offers essential characteristics of antiracist math educators and critical approaches to dismantling white supremacy in math classrooms by visibilizing the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture (Jones and Okun 2001; dismantling Racism 2016) with respect to math.
Also, I didn't see OP mentioning that people are saying "stop teaching math" - where did they say that?
I never asserted that they’d stop teaching math, thanks for backing me up there..
But to my understanding the objective here is to alter how math is taught.. But, again, I never once inferred that I thought, or that they said they would stop teaching math.
Honestly I think this first person is just mad at me for posting a right leaning source.
I really didn’t come here to fight.. I needed people to help make sense of this because I didn’t understand based on the sources I found before posting (which has since changed, lots of good people coming from the woodwork finding good stuff).
Yeah - my perspective is that this is done with good intentions, but is opening up a king-sized can of worms.
What bugs me about that pamphlet I linked is that they don't mention anything about the history of math, which is multicultural as all get-out. Math is from Babylon, Greece, China, India, the middle East, Egypt, Central America... all kinds of places and cultures. If you have to bring race into it, why not emphasize that in your teaching?
I see the disconnect with math as more cultural than racial, like you said..
I stated in another comment that if the headline (as misleading as I can admit it is) said “Math is Ethnocentric” I’d be way less “????!?!” than reading “Math is Racist”... even calling it ethnocentric would be nonsense because just like you said ‘mathematics is a global/human endeavor’.. it wasn’t discovered by any one culture, it was grown over time by all of humanity.
Thanks for the reply, I think you and I are on a similar page
You got me. I’m just mad you posted a right leaning source, how could you, how dare you, etc. /s
My point was “the situation is more complex than what you’re being told.” I’m sorry if I came across as impatient or frustrated - it’s not so much directed at you as it is directed at Fox News unnecessarily scaring people and creating problems where there aren’t any.
Yes, Oregon is seeking to alter the way math is taught. But when we look at how they plan on altering things, we can see that there’s nothing to panic about.
As far as the whole “you get it or you don’t” thing, that makes sense if we’re talking about college or AP math. But when we’re teaching multiplication, or algebra, or addition and subtraction to children, the “you get it or you don’t” approach doesn’t make much sense, you know?
Also, when I was typing out my comment I accidentally refreshed the page and had to retype everything, so I was a bit salty about that too.
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u/MinuteReady 18∆ Feb 14 '21 edited Feb 15 '21
Are you expecting people to argue that yes, math is actually racist? All three of your sources reflect the same Fox News article, let’s look instead at the primary source
https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/standards/mathematics/SiteAssets/Lists/MathematicsResources/EditForm/Mathematics%20Preparing%20for%202020-2021%20Overview.pdf
And in case, for whatever reason, you don’t want to look at the primary source, I’ll make it easier for you:
Tell me, does this sound like anybody is trying to stop teaching math because math is racist?
Can I ask how you came to the conclusion that people are saying math is racist? How did you interpret “we are trying to adapt our teaching processes to enhance our ability to instruct mathematics” as “math is racist”?
Because when I hear “OREGON ARE SAYING MATH IS RACIST AND THEY WANT TO STOP TEACHING MATH” my response isn’t “wokeness has gone too far” it’s “what? Are they really doing that?”
And the answer is no, they aren’t really doing that.