The WOKES Have Axed Advanced Algebra in Public School

Parents slam woke Massachusetts school district for axing advanced math classes to boost 'equity',
after they attracted too many white and Asian students - with families now forced to hire private tutors instead

Parents in Cambridge are speaking out after algebra was cut from middle school
Decision was made years ago due to racial disparities in advanced placement
But parents say it boosts inequality by forcing the use of private tutors


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12303157/Parents-protest-end-advanced-math-classes-Cambridge-middle-schools.html

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This story is big on this local level, as Cambridge is the home of Harvard and MIT,
so, sorry for the lack of good links, although more are out there. Use the Twitter, too, or the BostonGlobe . I cannot get into either.

@earl-of-trumps said
Parents slam woke Massachusetts school district for axing advanced math classes to boost 'equity',
after they attracted too many white and Asian students - with families now forced to hire private tutors instead

Parents in Cambridge are speaking out after algebra was cut from middle school
Decision was made years ago due to racial disparities in advanced p ...[text shortened]... s, although more are out there. Use the Twitter, too, or the BostonGlobe . I cannot get into either.

Recently, tempers flared again after the district said in an e-mail that middle school math staff would not “be recommending that any scholars place out of algebra 1″ in ninth grade. At a hearing of the School Committee’s curriculum subcommittee in May, a number of parents and residents argued for urgency. Critics say limiting advanced math has been counterproductive. “Not providing access means that the only people who will have access are the people who have outside means,” said Ross Benson, a math teacher who has taught advanced classes at Cambridge Rindge and Latin for 17 years, in an interview. Critics of the district policy note that without taking algebra in eighth grade, students must compress their math classes in high school in order to reach advanced classes like calculus. That means taking a year’s worth of math each semester. But that isn’t easy, said Bertha Pantoja, a parent in the district who had one son take algebra 1 in eighth grade and a younger son reach high school without it. “I have to get tutoring, like all the private school students, to help him,” Pantoja said. Tony Clark, cofounder and copresident of My Brother’s Keeper Cambridge, which works to support young people of color, noted the 6,600-student district has incredible resources and not that many students. “It’s a very workable number who don’t have [access] and really need it,” Clark said. “It’s kind of a put up or shut up moment.” In the background of all conversations about algebra in Cambridge is the Algebra Project, the math education program founded in the city by civil rights leader Bob Moses. Executive director Benjamin Moynihan was emphatic that with a combination of top-down policy and bottom-up support, Cambridge could teach all its students algebra in eighth grade. “Even despite the pandemic, is it possible? The Algebra Project would say yes,” Moynihan said. “It’s never going to be the perfect opportunity.” The Great Divide explores educational inequality in Boston and statewide.

Instead of axing advanced math they should seek ways to help lower income people afford tutoring, since they're citing that as the reason for the disparity.

But Soothfast pointed out that it's a small district so perhaps it's not a viable option for their budget. Even so, I don't see how cutting the program helps.

So nothing to do with woke, then?

@Soothfast said - Based on what's here, I really don't see the "equity" or "woke" angle. Often districts twiddle
with curricula to streamline operations or save money/resources. It's a very small school district, I note.
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Thanks for that.

The Globe is the liberal paper so that does not surprise me. But think about it, a school cutting down
on its curriculum is counter productive. They are supposed to encourage people to dare to advance.

These people pay a lot of money to live in that city, as many move there so their children will be educated there.
And the school pills a stunt like this??? The administrators don't like looking at certain students advance
because they don't have the "correct" ethnicity/skin color??

@vivify said
Instead of axing advanced math they should seek ways to help lower income people afford tutoring, since they're citing that as the reason for the disparity.

But Soothfast pointed out that it's a small district so perhaps it's not a viable option for their budget. Even so, I don't see how cutting the program helps.

@shavixmir said
So nothing to do with woke, then?

@earl-of-trumps said
You can go back to sleep.

@soothfast said
At the Boston Globe site I can view the page source and glean this:
[quote]Recently, tempers flared again after the district said in an e-mail that middle school math staff would not “be recommending that any scholars place out of algebra 1″ in ninth grade. At a hearing of the School Committee’s curriculum subcommittee in May, a number of parents and residents argued for u ...[text shortened]... ricula to streamline operations or save money/resources. It's a very small school district, I note.

Unless y’all be misspelling angie’s bra, then I have no idea what y’all be yapping aboot.

@earl-of-trumps said
Parents slam woke Massachusetts school district for axing advanced math classes to boost 'equity',
after they attracted too many white and Asian students - with families now forced to hire private tutors instead

Parents in Cambridge are speaking out after algebra was cut from middle school
Decision was made years ago due to racial disparities in advanced p ...[text shortened]... s, although more are out there. Use the Twitter, too, or the BostonGlobe . I cannot get into either.

@shavixmir said
Sleep is for folks with nothin’ better to do.

@earl-of-trumps said
@Soothfast said - Based on what's here, I really don't see the "equity" or "woke" angle. Often districts twiddle
with curricula to streamline operations or save money/resources. It's a very small school district, I note.
---------------------------------


Thanks for that.

The Globe is the liberal paper so that does not surprise me. But think about it, a schoo ...[text shortened]... ke looking at certain students advance
because they don't have the "correct" ethnicity/skin color??

@soothfast said
It is a mistake to cut more advanced courses at a public school, I believe. Pare down the district administration instead. Bloated administrations are a blight on the academy in the US, from the lowliest kindergarten to the top research universities. It didn't used to be this way.

Some high schools that can't support more advanced courses on their own campuses have a ...[text shortened]... e so that Johnny can take differential equations or linear algebra there. That's another way to go.

@zahlanzi said
Schools in the US have their budgets tied to property tax (another great American idea). I don't know what their budget is and what was saved because of this cut (maybe it was indeed the bonus of some bloated administrator)


Fun fact: i had a kinda mathematically challenged friend in middle school. When he emmigrated to the US he was suddenly top of his class because he ...[text shortened]... ols and that the money available is tied to how rich the parents in that neighborhood are is lunacy.