VICTOR JOECKS: California’s new math: 2+2=social justice

If you want kids to do better in math, their math instruction should focus on math. But California bureaucrats have other ideas.

Last week, the California State Board of Education approved a new framework for math instruction. It’s hundreds of pages long and is intended to guide curriculum and instruction. The justification for this revision is that students are doing terrible in the subject.

That’s certainly true. Just 30 percent of its fourth graders are proficient in math, according to The Nation’s Report Card. Among Black and Hispanic students, proficiency falls to 15 percent and 17 percent respectively.

Unfortunately, a priority of its new math curriculum is “equity.” How that term is now used shouldn’t be confused with equal opportunity or a pursuit of merit. California is deeply concerned about racial gaps in mathematics achievement, so its new framework makes it harder for every student to learn math.

Lest you think this is an exaggeration, here’s a tiny portion of what’s in this document.

“Both mathematics educators and mathematics education researchers argue that teaching toward social justice can play an important role in shifting students’ perspectives on mathematics as well as their sense of belonging as mathematics thinkers,” reads the chapter titled “Teaching for Equity and Engagement.”

The framework offers a vignette of a teacher giving an assignment on the “living wage.” The document suggests a teacher ask his students, “What percentage of their income do you think people usually spend on housing, food and other essentials in our area? Is this fair and just?”

You see, when students aren’t doing well in math, what they really need is more left-wing political indoctrination. Sadly, these aren’t isolated examples. This worldview permeates the whole document.

Then there’s how teachers are supposed to teach — or not: “Rather than focusing on specific procedures and memorization, instruction is more effective when teachers aim to develop understanding of bigger ideas and procedures,” the framework reads.

As anyone who has tried to make heads or tails of common core math knows, this is an insane way to teach math to children. Understanding the basics is the key that eventually allows kids to unlock more advanced concepts.

“The teacher wants the students to see the numbers as allies and each problem as an opportunity to befriend numbers in new ways,” a vignette on teaching addition to second graders reads. Good grief.

Another example involves a story problem about a swimmer helping a baby whale. The teacher “knows some of her students struggle with the culture of elite swimming.” So she “presents the story to the students every day while wearing a swimming cap, goggles and sweatsuit to class.”

“I couldn’t understand math, but then my teacher wore goggles in class!” said no child ever.

This is so pathetic that it would be hysterical if the stakes weren’t so high.

The left recoils from traditional math instruction because it leads to unequal levels of achievement among racial groups. In its place, it offers a plan that will lower math achievement for everyone — excluding rich parents who can pay for private tutors.

And this is what progressives call social justice.

Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on Twitter.