I think that the critically-minded folks in education are making a huge strategic mistake when it comes to making mathematics "anti-racist". Unlike the social sciences and philosophy departments where CRT originated, there isn't a lot of gray area in mathematics to hide a lot of meaningless BS. The answer to 2+2 or the derivative of a given function has a correct answer that's independent of race, history, the system in which the math is embedded within, etc. And unlike a lot of the academic departments that produced the CRT advocates, people out in the real world depend on scientists and engineers getting their math correct, else engineering, physics, computer science, and a whole host of other important disciplines don't function properly. If you want to see inequity rear its head, wait until parents start catching on to the schools that teach math well versus the ones that don't, and start shuffling their children accordingly and/or supplement the public school math education with extracurricular instruction.
To be clear, if the CRT folks are pushing for practices that make it easier for everyone to bootstrap a lifelong pursuit of mathematics (something that will be increasingly important as the higher levels of the economic value chain require more mathematics competence), then they have my full support. However, if their net contribution is to water down the curriculum where no one feels like they're being left behind (as opposed to helping kids keep up), they're going to find little patience from parents and future employers, and the project to make mathematics anti-racist will blow up in their faces, as failure won't be easily concealed.
There is a big push on to turn school teachers into social justice warriors and then impart that to the students. The granddaughter had hybrid learning last year. The mornings were online and the afternoons in person. All year the online portion was about race. One exercise required the student to circle what shade of black or brown they were. This school district is almost all white with the largest minority being Asian. There was no white option. The entire month of January was MLK month where they discussed laws against cohabitation of two people of a different race. None of the kids knew what the teacher was talking about because they were in the third grade. February is Black History Month. The didn't discuss a single outstanding black man or woman in history. The entire month was dedicated to racist behavior by white people. Then there was the ever popular month of June where they were told to celebrate all matter of sexual practices which the kids didn't get either.
In the afternoon it was actually education. Multiplication tables, grammar, spelling. When asked why the class wasn't talking about race in the afternoon the teacher replied that some things kids your age are too young to discuss. There's hope out there yet.
I think that the critically-minded folks in education are making a huge strategic mistake when it comes to making mathematics "anti-racist". Unlike the social sciences and philosophy departments where CRT originated, there isn't a lot of gray area in mathematics to hide a lot of meaningless BS. The answer to 2+2 or the derivative of a given function has a correct answer that's independent of race, history, the system in which the math is embedded within, etc. And unlike a lot of the academic departments that produced the CRT advocates, people out in the real world depend on scientists and engineers getting their math correct, else engineering, physics, computer science, and a whole host of other important disciplines don't function properly. If you want to see inequity rear its head, wait until parents start catching on to the schools that teach math well versus the ones that don't, and start shuffling their children accordingly and/or supplement the public school math education with extracurricular instruction.
To be clear, if the CRT folks are pushing for practices that make it easier for everyone to bootstrap a lifelong pursuit of mathematics (something that will be increasingly important as the higher levels of the economic value chain require more mathematics competence), then they have my full support. However, if their net contribution is to water down the curriculum where no one feels like they're being left behind (as opposed to helping kids keep up), they're going to find little patience from parents and future employers, and the project to make mathematics anti-racist will blow up in their faces, as failure won't be easily concealed.
There is a big push on to turn school teachers into social justice warriors and then impart that to the students. The granddaughter had hybrid learning last year. The mornings were online and the afternoons in person. All year the online portion was about race. One exercise required the student to circle what shade of black or brown they were. This school district is almost all white with the largest minority being Asian. There was no white option. The entire month of January was MLK month where they discussed laws against cohabitation of two people of a different race. None of the kids knew what the teacher was talking about because they were in the third grade. February is Black History Month. The didn't discuss a single outstanding black man or woman in history. The entire month was dedicated to racist behavior by white people. Then there was the ever popular month of June where they were told to celebrate all matter of sexual practices which the kids didn't get either.
In the afternoon it was actually education. Multiplication tables, grammar, spelling. When asked why the class wasn't talking about race in the afternoon the teacher replied that some things kids your age are too young to discuss. There's hope out there yet.