Refusing to teach kids math will not improve equity • Hacker News Board

Re: Refusing to teach kids math will not improve equity

#71

Post by eitally » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 5:10 PM UTC

brightball wrote: post #53

thebooktocome wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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I hear that line a lot, yet many of the best schools are religious schools. It’s one thing if you’re forced into through zoning. It’s an entirely different picture if it’s a choice of parents.

I'm not aware of any religious public schools that kids are forced into through zoning/districting. I am aware of MANY families who choose parochial schools because of the school quality & culture, but are absolutely not religious (they tolerate the religious part in order to unlock the educational & cultural parts).

Re: Refusing to teach kids math will not improve equity

#72

Post by wolpoli » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 5:10 PM UTC

jedmeyers wrote: post #27

tapatio wrote: post #8

Just get rid of GPAs and grading altogether. If a kid wants to learn algebra, support them. Why does everything have to be dumbed down to the lowest common denominator?

A lot of people in positions of power are currently obsessed with achieving equality of outcomes (aka equity) and dumbing down to the lowest common denominator is an only working way to achieve that goal for large groups of people.

Are we going to see a transition to a pure pass/fail grading system then?

Re: Refusing to teach kids math will not improve equity

#73

Post by peterhadlaw » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 5:10 PM UTC

yxwvut wrote: post #51

brightball wrote: post #19

Stuff like this is why I will remain a proponent for true vouchers for the rest of my life. No parent should be stuck without options when educational governance goes sideways like this. Pull your kid. Find them a school that gives them the greatest opportunity to succeed and use the funds earmarked for their education to ensure they receive it. Currently, options are restricted to parents who can afford to move to a…

What's your solution to stop runaway education costs in this 'voucher first' world? It's not exactly going well in secondary education.

There are no government backed & guaranteed non-defaultable loans in K-12, unlike secondary education.

Re: Refusing to teach kids math will not improve equity

#74

Post by gizmo686 » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 5:10 PM UTC

JohnMakin wrote: post #44

I don’t know why this author needs to use this issue as a political cudgel against “progressivism” - I don’t see anything particularly progressive about this policy vs the Dallas one he also mentions - the goals are exactly the same, to bring more equity to disadvantaged and minority students. Here is what Jo Boaler has to say on the issue: https://patch.com/california/across-ca/lets-move-past-acrimo... she claims th…

Public education is political. It is run by directly elected boards, with funding provided by the legislature, and under the laws of the legidlature.

Education policy is difficult, and every political movement that has worked on it has had at least 1 stupid and counterproductive idea. The particular stupid idea under discussion here happens to be one done by the movement that identifies itself as progressive, and in a state where progressives hold a lot of political power.

Re: Refusing to teach kids math will not improve equity

#75

Post by jasonlotito » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 5:11 PM UTC

Yeah, as best I can tell, this article is making stuff up. Referencing the article he cites and fails to link to, it's clear that no one is refusing to teach kids math.

The headline and the rhetoric used in the article are misinformation at best if I assume the author is simply ignorant.

Re: Refusing to teach kids math will not improve equity

#76

Post by m3kw9 » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 5:11 PM UTC

So they are dumbing people down to make them more equal?

Re: Refusing to teach kids math will not improve equity

#77

Post by mcny » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

jdminhbg wrote: post #49

thebooktocome wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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I'm for vouchers because I don't think I should have to pay with my taxes for religious indoctrination masquerading as public education.

> I'm for vouchers because I don't think I should have to pay with my taxes for religious indoctrination masquerading as public education.

are you missing a NOT in there? as in `I'm NOT for vouchers because I don't think I should have to pay with my taxes for religious indoctrination masquerading as public education. `?

because as it stands, your comment makes as much sense as saying

> if you are not paying for the product you are the product

Just because you are paying does not mean you are NOT the product, to spell it out.

Similarly, just because people have the option to pay for their Islamic Madrasah or whatever Jewish or Christian equivalents are with vouchers, does not mean they will not try to shove their ideologies down everyone in public education in the next election cycle.

Re: Refusing to teach kids math will not improve equity

#78

Post by weaksauce » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

brightball wrote: post #19

Stuff like this is why I will remain a proponent for true vouchers for the rest of my life. No parent should be stuck without options when educational governance goes sideways like this. Pull your kid. Find them a school that gives them the greatest opportunity to succeed and use the funds earmarked for their education to ensure they receive it. Currently, options are restricted to parents who can afford to move to a…

except this is histrionics. there was a fervent backlash against this and they revised the proposal to make it a schools choice to teach it or not.

> Stuff like this is why I will remain a proponent for true vouchers for the rest of my life.

The only thing that does is line the pockets of fundamentalist christian schools with money and increase the inequality. schools should not be tied to local taxes by and large... there should be a equality of funding.

Re: Refusing to teach kids math will not improve equity

#79

Post by dboreham » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

jdminhbg wrote: post #49

thebooktocome wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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I'm for vouchers because I don't think I should have to pay with my taxes for religious indoctrination masquerading as public education.

I'm sure it's different in other places, but around here the only alternative school in town is run by an organized religion. Come to think of it, that's also true of the next town. Are the voucher people envisaging some eduVC funding source that allows me to spin up a school to complete with the legacy one?

Re: Refusing to teach kids math will not improve equity

#80

Post by hdior » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

brightball wrote: post #39

scarmig wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's the theory that, by forcing the kids with the most engaged parents to go to schools with the kids of less engaged parents, the engaged parents will drive school districts to implement good educational policies. In reality, though, that doesn't seem to have worked. School board elections have very low turnout usually, and the people elected to them are disproportionately ideologues who treat engaged parents wi…

That’s a good case for vouchers. Instead, kids with engaged parents will flee to better schools. The other parents will either follow, growing the new school and model, or the other school will adapt in order to retain students. Engaged parents are your early adopters. Without vouchers, most people can’t even afford to enter the market.

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