Re:An alarming trend in K-12 math education: a guest post an...
by abecedarius on Friday December 03, 2021 @04:29PM
(#29435797)
Thanks. I guess I can see this working out if the classes end up being taught better on average (aiming for deeper understanding instead of faster advancement along a standard track to "advanced" math), and if the better-off parents generally appreciate this. If we did successfully get better teaching then it'd be natural for a greater proportion of the disadvantaged to discover they're interested in real math, too.
(I wouldn't bet on it, personally, and I don't think the infusion of wokeness is mainly about helping more people to understand math better. Hopefully I'm too cynical. The Common Core math stuff seems like progress, for instance.)
Re:An alarming trend in K-12 math education: a guest post an...
by krastanov on Friday December 03, 2021 @07:16PM
(#29437309)
On the other hand for a strong case against my belief, this seems like a good start https://edsource.org/2021/one-districts-faulty-data-shouldnt...
It is cited in the open letter's supporting document. It would take some very serious effort to read through these resources and try to disentangle the biases of the authors, but I guess this meltdown would not have happened if reading social/ed science papers was easy.
But to actually answer your question. Better-off parents already bypass public education, even if not completely. If this new program works (not a given), the problem will not be exacerbated, rather more students will be prepared to reach for these "gifted programs" (which in many cases, even if expensive, usually have good fee-waivers as this gives them more credibility).
[1] Obviously just a personal opinion. But in the interactions I have had in this context I feel I have seen a lot of inflated but unsubstantiated sense of competence.