The new framework aims to keep everyone learning at the same level for as long as possible.
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.
Broadly speaking, this entails making math as easy and un-math-like as possible. Math is really about language and culture and social justice, and no one is naturally better at it than anyone else, according to the framework.
"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...
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I would venture a guess that no one from the math dept was involved in the process.
ReplyDeleteThe "Equility" movement has always been about knocking everyone down into the dirt. Not raising people up. And in classic Lefist style instead of fixing or improving their AP calculus classes, which makes them look bad, they simply cancel the program while blaming others for their shortcomings.
ReplyDeleteI really cannot understand the idea here. I remember being a bit delayed at math compared to my friends in junior high (back when we called it that). Most of my friends were in the advanced math class, but I was in the standard class.
ReplyDeleteBy college I was already co-valedictorian at my high school and ended up taking 3 years of calculus before deciding that it was getting a bit too theoretical, especially as medicine only required algebra as a prerequisite. Being "behind" my friends didn't have a long lasting negative effect upon my psyche. It encouraged me to work harder once I had developed enough to grasp the concepts.
Growth isn't about staying with the pack. It's about pushing your limits. Holding everyone back benefits no one.