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   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   Larry Summers blames 'social justice warriors' for giving China a   
   leg up   
      
   A top Democratic economist says the rise of "antiracist" math   
   curricula is a national security threat.   
      
   Larry Summers, a Harvard economist who led the National Economic   
   Council under former president Barack Obama, shared a letter on   
   Monday signed by almost 600 academics that condemns the rise of woke   
   math initiatives in K-12 schools. The letter says the initiatives   
   have devalued foundational math courses such as algebra and limited   
   advanced math courses "to reduce achievement gaps." Summers called   
   rigorous math instruction "an economic and a national security   
   imperative," noting that "in China, math standards are not subject   
   to continued erosion by social justice warriors who can't themselves   
   define exponential growth or solve quadratic equations."   
      
   Radical education activists want to purge math curricula of   
   allegedly racist practices, which include showing your work and   
   arriving at the right answer. Democratic donors have played a role   
   in propagating this now-popular trend in math education, the   
   Washington Free Beacon previously reported. The Bill and Melinda   
   Gates Foundation bankrolled A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction,   
   the nonprofit behind a curriculum that asks teachers to observe how   
   math "is used to uphold capitalist, imperialist, and racist views."   
      
   Proponents of "antiracist" curricula often push to eliminate   
   advanced math classes in order to reduce achievement gaps for   
   underprivileged students. The coalition behind the open letter,   
   k12mathmatters, says this misguided approach diminishes "access to   
   skills needed for social mobility."   
      
   "While the U.S. K-12 system has much to improve, the current trends   
   will instead take us further back," the letter reads. "Reducing   
   access to advanced mathematics and elevating trendy but shallow   
   courses over foundational skills would cause lasting damage to STEM   
   education in the country and exacerbate inequality by diminishing   
   access to the skills needed for social mobility."   
      
   Adrian Mims, one of the letter's signatories, told the Free Beacon   
   that educators should focus on elevating students to advanced math   
   classes, not trying to "lower the ceiling."   
      
   "If you do that, it's going to eliminate a lot of postsecondary   
   opportunities for them," Mims told the Free Beacon.   
      
   The letter notes that eliminating advanced math courses would   
   particularly harm public school students and place them at a   
   disadvantage over students in private schools. It also warns that   
   such reforms would reduce American students' proficiency in   
   calculus, algebra, and logical thinking at a time when those skills   
   "are arguably even more critical for today's grand challenges than   
   in the Sputnik era."   
      
      
   https://freebeacon.com/campus/top-dem-economist-says-woke-math-is-   
   a-national-security-threat/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)