Top Dem Economist Says Woke Math Is a National Security Threat

[Happy New Year]

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/