Virginia to eliminate advanced math courses because not enough minorities qualify

cool..instead of rewarding those who advance, they want to bring down everybody else to create this false idea that we're all the same and that we're all equals

I predict a huge shift to private schools over the next 5 years. Many have already done so due to the pandemic and CRT.

Math is racist. Science is racist. Grades are racist. Everyone should get the same grade regardless of what answer they put down. It is wrong to say one individual is better at math than another. We are all the same and one person's answer is just as good as another.

As part of the same program they will be eliminating sports and all other forms of competition as none should consider themselves uniquely gifted or talented.

Where did the article say anything about minorities?

A Passage to Rhodesia wrote:

What a great idea. Lets dumb everything down, this will be great for our future.

The quest for "racial equality" continues.

"The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is moving to eliminate all accelerated math options prior to 11th grade, effectively keeping higher-achieving students from advancing as they usually would in the school system...

"Offering an inclusive learning environment that engages and challenges students of varied levels of understanding and different interests will be a focus of the common mathematics pathways proposed in grades K-10."

foxnews.com/us/virginia-accelerated-math-courses-equity

well we already know this...being a moran is so woke right now.

being smart is racist, being ignorant and drowning in mediocrity is soooo in right now. you dont like something, cry racisms, you feel you got wronged burn down your own neighborhood then demand someone pay for it to be rebuilt. so it only makes sense that math, something that has no race or creed or religion...nope its just numbers and letters to describe a quantity or quality of something is now racist. soon exercise will be racist, breathing will be racist, dying will be racist, being born will be racist. going to heaven or hell will be racist. being alive will be racist. space and time will be racist.

It doesn't (not explicitly anyway). The OP is just hyperbolizing.

That being said, he does have a point in how absurd this restriction is.

What appears to be taking place is that all students will take the same math courses through Grade 10, and starting Grade 11 and 12, will be able to choose higher level math courses.

The problem is that there is a lot of higher level math.

When I was in high school, I finished taking AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra (I am an engineer, so yes, it made perfect sense that these aligned with my interests) before I graduated. This was spread over the course of four years.

The new courses will that replace all lower level mathematics (algebra I, algebra II, etc.) apparently cover, as explicitly quoted "data analysis, mathematical modeling, functions and algebra, spatial reasoning and probability", so I take it that geometry is probably being lumped with the advanced material.

That leaves at minimum, Differential Calculus (AB/BC), Integral Calculus (BC), Statistics, and Geometry to be lumped into two years of high school education for anybody interested in them, entirely ignoring the possibility of even higher level courses like Differential Equations and Linear Algebra (yes, there are public high schools that do indeed teach this).

Most people would scoff and say that there's no use for something like Linear Algebra for high schoolers regardless, but for anybody who is interested in careers in Bioinformatics, Software Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, etc. it's a HUGE help. I was able to accomplish far more substantial things in college just because I had a baseline level of knowledge in matrix theory, and still routinely apply things derived from it (principal component analysis, etc.).

As everyone knows, the type of instruction you receive from a college professor is a complete wildcard, so I had hundreds of peers who struggled for years in college just because they had to learn linear algebra in 10 weeks with 3 classes per week from a Professor who clearly did not want to be teaching it, then lacked sufficient conceptual knowledge for every course built from it. In contrast, having a high school instructor spend ~18 weeks with a class every single day on the material saved me from years of difficulty.

comedyre1i3f wrote:

Math is racist. Science is racist. Grades are racist. Everyone should get the same grade regardless of what answer they put down. It is wrong to say one individual is better at math than another. We are all the same and one person's answer is just as good as another.

Yep. The NBA is racist too because black players are over represented versus other colors, especially Asians & Hispanics. Also. they are privileged.

As another engineer stated, it would be much more difficult to be an engineer if you aren't allowed to do higher level math starting at a younger age. For me it started in 7th grade, people who tested on standardized tests were given a choice to take the 'smart person math'... Eventually doing calculus and I don't remember what else in high school. This was huge because calculus becomes the basis of so many subjects for engineering in college. Getting the jump start allows people to focus more time learning those other subjects in college instead of fumbling around with math that they should already be good at.

So I guess future engineers and many other professions from Virginia will not be as good at their jobs as they are today.

Instead of eliminating the accelerated math classes, how about they put everyone in accelerated math? If everyone is equal, then they should be able to handle it. It is a disservice to keep them in the slower math classes.

Oh, so basically, what VA was doing in the 80s when it was called CSMP.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_School_Mathematics_Program

The board member who doesn’t like these changes was paraphrased to say: “He added that the concepts courses wouldn't eliminate algebraic ideas but rather interweave multiple strands of mathematics throughout the courses. Those included data analysis, mathematical modeling, functions and algebra, spatial reasoning and probability.”

That is awful! Imagine not getting to take Algebra I (or الجبر) and instead you have to take a classes with multiple styles of mathematical reasoning! The horror!

Oh, and will everyone will really take the same thing? Sorry socialist libs! VDOE spokesperson acknowledged there will be differences in what people actually are taught: "Differentiated instruction is designed to provide the appropriate levels of challenge and academic rigor for each student."

Tempest in a very tiny teapot.

Where the heck do you live? Most high schools around me don't even have calculus as an offering since not enough students want to take it and they don't have any teacher who know how to do it. The big high schools usually have calculus and statistics offerings as their highest courses.

The issue for me is why does this initiative have to be state-wide? Why not let individual schools tailor their offerings to their student population? There are many public schools where a separate path for advanced students in math would not make sense because there might only be a few with the interest or aptitude. For some schools it might make more sense to beef up their remedial programs.

But why not allow some magnet schools to offer a more expanded, advanced math curriculum. The one-size-fits-all is one of the biggest flaws in public education. Provide schools with the funding and let them come up with programs designed to best fits the needs of their students.

A Passage to Rhodesia wrote:

"The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is moving to eliminate all accelerated math options prior to 11th grade, effectively keeping higher-achieving students from advancing as they usually would in the school system...

In other words, the way to get more minorities in the "advanced" classes is to declare all the classes "advanced".

Has this site changed its name to ARC - Alt-Right dot Com?

Bizarre how obsessed so many on here are with stupid things in a particular direction.

Helpful Hint: There's all kinds of stupid stuff going on all over the place. Always has been. Always will be. But if you consistently pick up on and rant about stupid stuff in a certain direction then you are part of the problem.

I take this as an admission that they cannot teach very well so they change it to mask the fact that they fail in preparing kids.

I missed it wrote:

The issue for me is why does this initiative have to be state-wide? Why not let individual schools tailor their offerings to their student population?

Wouldn’t worry about it too much. In the real world, individual schools and teachers will be doing this. They may not have something called an “advanced track”, but it will exist nevertheless, under some other term of for “differentiated instruction”. And the pendulum will swing, and they’ll break them apart explicitly, and then it will swing back again. Pain in the a$$ for teachers doing lesson plans/exams: to society at-large, very little to no difference.

I missed it wrote:

Where did the article say anything about minorities?

true.

Asians are minorities but they don't count here because they succeed.

It's just african american and hispanic groups.

So it's wrong to just blanket say 'minorities'

it's the right ethnic groups.

smitherree wrote:

I missed it wrote:

Where did the article say anything about minorities?

true.

Asians are minorities but they don't count here because they succeed.

It's just african american and hispanic groups.

So it's wrong to just blanket say 'minorities'

it's the right ethnic groups.

Isn't eliminating accelerated math classes a form of Asian hate? Didn't we just pass a law prohibiting this sort of discrimination with bipartisan support?