Using math to find the wrong solution

[bigbird 60,525]

,,Open SmartNews and read "In the Name of Equity, California Will Discourage Students Who Are Gifted at Math" here: https://share.smartnews.com/TeSQp
To read it on the web, tap here: https://share.smartnews.com/t7cQk

 

People, there has to be some sort of common sense attached to these ridiculous changes some are proposing. Accepting lunacy out of fear of being ridiculed, shouted down or "cancelled" just perpetuates the crazy.  No mater what side you identify with, this can't be seen as a beneficial step forward, right?  I thought individualism and being special or good at something was supposed to be a good thing. It's what makes us different and aren't we supposed to celebrate our differences?

[TexasTiger 12,865]

7 minutes ago, bigbird said:

,,Open SmartNews and read "In the Name of Equity, California Will Discourage Students Who Are Gifted at Math" here: https://share.smartnews.com/TeSQp
To read it on the web, tap here: https://share.smartnews.com/t7cQk

 

People, there has to be some sort of common sense attached to these ridiculous changes some are proposing. Accepting lunacy out of fear of being ridiculed, shouted down or "cancelled" just perpetuates the crazy.  No mater what side you identify with, this can't be seen as a beneficial step forward, right?  I thought individualism and being special or good at something was supposed to be a good thing. It's what makes us different and aren't we supposed to celebrate our differences?

Our failure to serve gifted students well is a gross disservice to them and our country.

[bigbird 60,525]

I agree, @icanthearyou

I dislike stupid ideas and decisions that limit kids opportunities to excell and to be singled out for their exceptionalism too.

 

I'm sorry Mr. Mozart, I know you can do more, but Billy is struggling with chopsticks. We're gonna need you to keep playing chopsticks until Billy feels he can play it as well as you. That way Billy doesn't feel left behind.

 

I'm sorry Mr. Jackson, you're gonna need to bat one-handed because the other kids can't hit as hard as you, also when playing football, you now have to wear clown shoes because you're just too fast for the others.  

[CoffeeTiger 5,108]

I find that California schools typically make very weird decisions that other liberal or progressive areas of the country don't similarly make. 

We need to encourage excellence and challenging study in public schools, not try to suppress it or discourage it. We place too little influence on STEM study and majors while encouraging easy and 'fair' education standards and curriculums that aren't designed to prepare students for future careers or skill sets, but designed to ensure as many students as possible graduate on time and don't drop out.  

 

I say this as someone who was terrible in math in school. Yeah, it kind of sucked at the time to see other smart kids in my class taking more advanced math classes, while I was stuck down a couple levels in a math class that they had taken a year or two earlier, but I never thought that THEY should be forced to take less challenging classes or not take classes like calculus just so I could stay on the same level as them. 

It wouldn't have done any benefit or service to me or to them. 

[Trakem 85]

Hey, now we can move on from "1984"!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron 

[I_M4_AU 7,827]

This didn’t start in California, in Seattle they have been doing this since October of 2019:

According to Seattle educators, math instruction in the United States is an example of “Western Math,” which apparently is the appropriation of mathematical knowledge by Western cultures. While everyone agrees that two plus two is four, three times three is nine, and that there are three hundred and sixty degrees in a circle, Western Math critics worry about more nuanced issues, such as why we teach kids Western counting and not, for example, how the Aborigines count.

https://www.hoover.org/research/seattle-schools-propose-teach-math-education-racist-will-california-be-far-behindseattle

Like a lot of organizations, school systems borrow heavily from other school systems that have developed a system that they believe is the *new thing*.  With a proposal to start school at 4 and run through 2 additional years of Community College that would be 16 years of education you, as a parent, may not agree with as lately, there have been some different philosophies injected into education.  This is all part of having equity vs equality.

This is an article from the National School Board Association from January 2016.

https://www.nsba.org/-/media/NSBA/File/cpe-educational-equity-research-brief-january-2016.pdf

Stand by.

 

[johnnyAU 3,630]

My wife and I have spent our entire careers in STEM fields. It's a shame it isn't emphasized more at early ages. There are some good programs like FIRST Robotics and Destination Imagination that would be beneficial, but many places/schools don't advertise or promote them adequately.  Of course, there are still some myths in existence that you have to fit into a certain stereotypical personality group to be successful or face extreme ridicule.   It's unfortunate.  The world needs scientists, engineers, technicians, welders, fabricators, etc...as much as it needs any other professions. Start 'em early!

 

[TexasTiger 12,865]

11 hours ago, TexasTiger said:

Our failure to serve gifted students well is a gross disservice to them and our country.

@icanthearyouthinks boring very bright children in school by failing to challenge them is just swell! To hell with those kids!

[bigbird 60,525]

34 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

@icanthearyouthinks boring very bright children in school by failing to challenge them is just swell! To hell with those kids!

Mmmm...math taste funner

[DKW 86 7,423]

Just want to point out something, the people endorsing these concepts almost exclusively have their own kids in private schools that are exempt from these crazy ideas.

Just a thought, they want your kids and my kids being crippled by this kind if thinking. THEY ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT THEIR KIDS INVOLVED IN THIS.