July 25, 2023 • 9 mins
The new math curriculum hitting CA is going to focus more on social justice and less on problem solving...
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
William Laginess had a fabulous report on Special Report last
night on Fox News about the newly passed and it's
funny how these things get going and you don't hear
about them until they're already happening. In cal Unicornia, this
is the new instruction for California kids on math. Go
ahead with the first clip, Michael, We'll go from there.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Let's see math.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Matthew Year Math, a controversial math curriculum taking route in
California as reformers this month overcame strong opposition from math
and science educators.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
It definitely will not help them learn math better. I've
been teaching math for forty three years, and I can
say with certainty that this will cause a great deal
of confusion and set students back.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Let's get into the specifics, but.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
The new framework urges teachers to focus on historically marginalized
people and take a justice oriented perspective by changing course
material with west emphasis on problem solving. More than a
thousand university professors push back, calling it a quote insult
in moral and foolish to replace arithmetic with what they
(01:07):
say is an endless river of fads that inserts equity,
social justice, and environmental care into math class?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
How do you get equity and social justice into math.
I'm doing a lot of math with my kids this summer,
as practically every kid in America is behind on math
because of the pandemic and trying to get caught up.
And if you're fortunate, you can you know, you got
time for a or money for a tutor or whatever.
But uh, we're doing like times tables. There's there's there's
(01:39):
no room for really any social attitudes in the math
that we're doing this summer.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Whether there's the voice of white supremacy, folks, Oh, what
do you think? Math is just math? White supremacy. The
cultural Marxists, the neo Marxists, want their ideology in everything.
They insist and you see it in the community college
guidelines in California, which we were talking about yesterday during
(02:05):
our four where every single class must be taught through
the lens of deia, the a being accessibility. I guess
now let's finish up the logenist support. In some more comments,
Jackie made reference to the miserable state of math teaching
and achievement in California. William mentions that as well.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Why is one state so important as the nation's largest
textbook market. Publishers tend to follow the California Framework.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
This framework will not prepare students for courses in math
of computer science.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
That's because the new framework pushes algebra from eighth to
ninth grade, which effectively prevents students from taking calculus as
a senior. But the state Education Board, which declined an interview,
says the new approach provides new opportunities for those who
need more assistance to catch up and surge ahead.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Well, somehow we left out the statistic that I think
thirty percent of California students are at grade level proficient
in math thirty percent, And now we're going to dilute
math with progressive ideologies being taught in math class. This
is not some sort of conservative fever dream or paranoia.
It's actually happening now in California government schools.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
So the only way you can get politics into math
is story problems, where you you know, present a certain
view of the world and story problems and then make
a math problem out of it. That's one way, and
then the other way is the stuff he was alluding
to there is the you know, whether it's eliminating programs
(03:42):
for the gifted or lowering the bar for standards or
that sort of stuff. That's where the equity slips in.
Is that right.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
On?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yes and no, just every lesson ought to have an
element of DEI or or anti racism, et cetera. You've
got to figure out how to incorporate anti racism in
the times table.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Well out outside of story problems. How would you? I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I haven't taken the classes. It's an excellent question, but
that's what they're demanding the teachers do. And as you heard,
a thousand of college professors, more than a thousand, came
out and said this is a disaster. They didn't say,
we respectfully think there are better approaches. No, they said
this is going to be a disaster.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Well, I'm not trying to be a smart ass, but
like so, if you're working on your multiplication tables, you're
either going to have, like I said, story problems where
you say, you know, two clansmen something or other got
on a train to Birmingham and it took them six hours.
I don't know what you're gonna do, for instance, or
are you going to give lectures about America in between
(04:52):
getting back to math? I don't know how else you
would do it.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Or teach, you know, percentages by pointing out the inequity
and education achievement or imprisonment rates or something like that.
That's what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Wow, a couple of.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Thoughts related Number one, what you need to understand the
whole two plus two does not always equal four.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Thing.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
They make various claims about why they're promoting it, but
at its heart, it's the need for Neo Marxism and
critical theory to deny that there's any such thing as
objective truth. That's very important for them to shove that
ideology down to people's throats, because if you scrutinize their ideas,
(05:43):
their theories, their philosophy through the lens of outcomes, through
lens of data, through the lens of what is real,
it fails miserably. And so if that's their problem, what
do they do? They respond by saying, there is no
objective reality. Any data you come up with is the
product of your white supremacist society. The white supremacy informs
(06:06):
all of your so called math. So don't come to
me with facts. You using facts is proof of white supremacy.
So you need to get on your knees and admit
that two plus two equals five. It's extremely Arewellian. Second
thing is and this ought to discuss people. I think
it probably does. A school district in Massachusetts, in the
(06:28):
Boston area, like right next door to Harvard, has slowly
been phasing algebra one out of its middle school curriculum
because the advanced math classes were predominantly taken by white
and Asian students. Now, some Mary parents are considering placing
their children in private schools or homeschooling to ensure they're
adequately prepared for high school math. Since twenty seventeen, Cambridge
public schools have been slowly moving away from placing middle
(06:49):
school students into grade level or accelerated math classes since
the grade level courses were disproportionately black and Hispanic students,
the accelerated courses mostly had white n Asian students. District
officials claim that the changes are designed to create better equity.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Right, So that's what I was talking about on that
end of it, is to get it into math is
just the structure of the learning or the classes so
that you can then claim, look, we have a better
proportion of this or that in this class. Or that
class by lowering the standards or changing the standards or whatever.
What a mess.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, And the school superintendent essentially explains that the kids
observe this and they internalize the idea that white and
Asian kids are smarter, and we can't have them internalizing it.
So we're going to remove the opportunity for white and
Asian kids to excel because if they excel, that makes
the other kids feel bad. So now we are going to,
(07:49):
in classic socialist form, try to lift up the bottom
by crushing the top. And when you're talking about children learning,
the curious children, children who love math, who are achieving
in math, who are going to be our next technology
and science leaders, making sure they can't achieve because that
may make somebody feel bad about it. That is evil.
(08:12):
It's evil. It's quashing the spirits of young kids. It's
not like ill, you know, advised or probably not the
best strategy. No, it's blanking evil.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Yeah, it's interesting to have that thought put in your head,
because I thought was never put in my head as
a kid, so I never never considered it the people
that were doing better than me, and I never tried
very hard at anything. That's kind of been my uh
maybe the title of my autobiography, I've never tried very hard.
The kids who were doing better than me. That was
a combination of and I think we all just knew this.
(08:46):
You know who's smart. You can tell by the way
they answer questions in class. I mean, you're usually with
them for many grades of your life, and you know
they're just smarter than I am. You also know that
some of those people are like crazy hard workers, Like
they do way more our homework then I'm willing to do.
And sometimes it's a combination of the two. They're really
smart and they do crazy amounts of homework. But that's
(09:07):
what I always thought about the people that were ahead
of me. It never occurred to me the idea of
anybody having a some other kind of advantage.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Well, and I will tell you this, the elimination of
the ability to take advanced classes or you're gifted and
talented education programs or whatever. For the kids who are
really right, you take that away, they are going to
hate it to sit there going over and over material
they got the first time they heard it. The idea
that we're going to make our society better by doing
(09:37):
that to our best and brightest kids again is evil.
I will fight it with my two little fists until
my dying day. I despise it, all right.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
It's horrible for the individual kids, as you just said,
and that it's horrible for society because you're not taking
advantage of our most talented people.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Now, California is leading the way with the assistance of
Massachusetts in this case.
William Laginess had a fabulous report on Special Report last
night on Fox News about the newly passed and it's
funny how these things get going and you don't hear
about them until they're already happening. In cal Unicornia, this
is the new instruction for California kids on math. Go
ahead with the first clip, Michael, We'll go from there.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Let's see math.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Matthew Year Math, a controversial math curriculum taking route in
California as reformers this month overcame strong opposition from math
and science educators.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
It definitely will not help them learn math better. I've
been teaching math for forty three years, and I can
say with certainty that this will cause a great deal
of confusion and set students back.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Let's get into the specifics, but.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
The new framework urges teachers to focus on historically marginalized
people and take a justice oriented perspective by changing course
material with west emphasis on problem solving. More than a
thousand university professors push back, calling it a quote insult
in moral and foolish to replace arithmetic with what they
(01:07):
say is an endless river of fads that inserts equity,
social justice, and environmental care into math class?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
How do you get equity and social justice into math.
I'm doing a lot of math with my kids this summer,
as practically every kid in America is behind on math
because of the pandemic and trying to get caught up.
And if you're fortunate, you can you know, you got
time for a or money for a tutor or whatever.
But uh, we're doing like times tables. There's there's there's
(01:39):
no room for really any social attitudes in the math
that we're doing this summer.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Whether there's the voice of white supremacy, folks, Oh, what
do you think? Math is just math? White supremacy. The
cultural Marxists, the neo Marxists, want their ideology in everything.
They insist and you see it in the community college
guidelines in California, which we were talking about yesterday during
(02:05):
our four where every single class must be taught through
the lens of deia, the a being accessibility. I guess
now let's finish up the logenist support. In some more comments,
Jackie made reference to the miserable state of math teaching
and achievement in California. William mentions that as well.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Why is one state so important as the nation's largest
textbook market. Publishers tend to follow the California Framework.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
This framework will not prepare students for courses in math
of computer science.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
That's because the new framework pushes algebra from eighth to
ninth grade, which effectively prevents students from taking calculus as
a senior. But the state Education Board, which declined an interview,
says the new approach provides new opportunities for those who
need more assistance to catch up and surge ahead.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Well, somehow we left out the statistic that I think
thirty percent of California students are at grade level proficient
in math thirty percent, And now we're going to dilute
math with progressive ideologies being taught in math class. This
is not some sort of conservative fever dream or paranoia.
It's actually happening now in California government schools.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
So the only way you can get politics into math
is story problems, where you you know, present a certain
view of the world and story problems and then make
a math problem out of it. That's one way, and
then the other way is the stuff he was alluding
to there is the you know, whether it's eliminating programs
(03:42):
for the gifted or lowering the bar for standards or
that sort of stuff. That's where the equity slips in.
Is that right.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
On?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yes and no, just every lesson ought to have an
element of DEI or or anti racism, et cetera. You've
got to figure out how to incorporate anti racism in
the times table.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Well out outside of story problems. How would you? I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I haven't taken the classes. It's an excellent question, but
that's what they're demanding the teachers do. And as you heard,
a thousand of college professors, more than a thousand, came
out and said this is a disaster. They didn't say,
we respectfully think there are better approaches. No, they said
this is going to be a disaster.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Well, I'm not trying to be a smart ass, but
like so, if you're working on your multiplication tables, you're
either going to have, like I said, story problems where
you say, you know, two clansmen something or other got
on a train to Birmingham and it took them six hours.
I don't know what you're gonna do, for instance, or
are you going to give lectures about America in between
(04:52):
getting back to math? I don't know how else you
would do it.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Or teach, you know, percentages by pointing out the inequity
and education achievement or imprisonment rates or something like that.
That's what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Wow, a couple of.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Thoughts related Number one, what you need to understand the
whole two plus two does not always equal four.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Thing.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
They make various claims about why they're promoting it, but
at its heart, it's the need for Neo Marxism and
critical theory to deny that there's any such thing as
objective truth. That's very important for them to shove that
ideology down to people's throats, because if you scrutinize their ideas,
(05:43):
their theories, their philosophy through the lens of outcomes, through
lens of data, through the lens of what is real,
it fails miserably. And so if that's their problem, what
do they do? They respond by saying, there is no
objective reality. Any data you come up with is the
product of your white supremacist society. The white supremacy informs
(06:06):
all of your so called math. So don't come to
me with facts. You using facts is proof of white supremacy.
So you need to get on your knees and admit
that two plus two equals five. It's extremely Arewellian. Second
thing is and this ought to discuss people. I think
it probably does. A school district in Massachusetts, in the
(06:28):
Boston area, like right next door to Harvard, has slowly
been phasing algebra one out of its middle school curriculum
because the advanced math classes were predominantly taken by white
and Asian students. Now, some Mary parents are considering placing
their children in private schools or homeschooling to ensure they're
adequately prepared for high school math. Since twenty seventeen, Cambridge
public schools have been slowly moving away from placing middle
(06:49):
school students into grade level or accelerated math classes since
the grade level courses were disproportionately black and Hispanic students,
the accelerated courses mostly had white n Asian students. District
officials claim that the changes are designed to create better equity.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Right, So that's what I was talking about on that
end of it, is to get it into math is
just the structure of the learning or the classes so
that you can then claim, look, we have a better
proportion of this or that in this class. Or that
class by lowering the standards or changing the standards or whatever.
What a mess.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, And the school superintendent essentially explains that the kids
observe this and they internalize the idea that white and
Asian kids are smarter, and we can't have them internalizing it.
So we're going to remove the opportunity for white and
Asian kids to excel because if they excel, that makes
the other kids feel bad. So now we are going to,
(07:49):
in classic socialist form, try to lift up the bottom
by crushing the top. And when you're talking about children learning,
the curious children, children who love math, who are achieving
in math, who are going to be our next technology
and science leaders, making sure they can't achieve because that
may make somebody feel bad about it. That is evil.
(08:12):
It's evil. It's quashing the spirits of young kids. It's
not like ill, you know, advised or probably not the
best strategy. No, it's blanking evil.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Yeah, it's interesting to have that thought put in your head,
because I thought was never put in my head as
a kid, so I never never considered it the people
that were doing better than me, and I never tried
very hard at anything. That's kind of been my uh
maybe the title of my autobiography, I've never tried very hard.
The kids who were doing better than me. That was
a combination of and I think we all just knew this.
(08:46):
You know who's smart. You can tell by the way
they answer questions in class. I mean, you're usually with
them for many grades of your life, and you know
they're just smarter than I am. You also know that
some of those people are like crazy hard workers, Like
they do way more our homework then I'm willing to do.
And sometimes it's a combination of the two. They're really
smart and they do crazy amounts of homework. But that's
(09:07):
what I always thought about the people that were ahead
of me. It never occurred to me the idea of
anybody having a some other kind of advantage.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Well, and I will tell you this, the elimination of
the ability to take advanced classes or you're gifted and
talented education programs or whatever. For the kids who are
really right, you take that away, they are going to
hate it to sit there going over and over material
they got the first time they heard it. The idea
that we're going to make our society better by doing
(09:37):
that to our best and brightest kids again is evil.
I will fight it with my two little fists until
my dying day. I despise it, all right.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
It's horrible for the individual kids, as you just said,
and that it's horrible for society because you're not taking
advantage of our most talented people.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Now, California is leading the way with the assistance of
Massachusetts in this case.
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