Considerable numbers of Woke educators in Oregon [1] are advocating that the math curriculum for grade school students needs to be revised. The Educators are claiming that under the current methods of teaching, Black children do not have a fair opportunity to learn math. The Educators are making the preposterous claim that math teachers need to jettison the exactitude of math in order for Black children to have a fair chance. The Educators claim that this is one step in their efforts to rid schools of “white supremacy.” At his own website, McWhorter lays out parts of the Oregon proposal: [2]
1. a focus on getting the “right” answer is “perfectionism” or “either/or thinking;”
2. the idea that teachers are teachers and students are learners is wrong;
3. to think of it as a problem that the expectations you have of students are not met is racist;
4. to teach math in a linear fashion with skills taught in sequence is racist;
5. to value “procedural fluency” – i.e. knowing how to do the fractions, long division … — over “conceptual knowledge” is racist. That is, black kids are brilliant to know what math is trying to do, to know “what it’s all about,” rather than to actually do the math, just as many of us read about what physics or astrophysics accomplishes without ever intending to master the math that led to the conclusions;
6. to require students to “show their work” is racist;
7. requiring students to raise their hand before speaking “can reinforce paternalism and powerhoarding, in addition to breaking the process of thinking, learning, and communicating.”
Glenn Loury and John McWhorter tear apart this racist and demeaning Oregon proposal in this recent podcast.
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