The Seattle school district has unveiled a new curriculum that combines math and social justice.
In Oct. 2019, Seattle Public Schools proposed the non-mandatory ethnic studies instructional framework, which would infuse mathematics with anti-racist theory, EducationWeek reported.
Under the new framework, students as young as kindergarteners would learn how math has been “appropriated” by oppressors and used to “marginalize” people of color.
In essence, the Seattle Public Schools are getting rid of right answers in math courses over the fear that absolute mathematics is ‘inherently racist’. Questions from the curriculum prompt pupils to consider how math is “manipulated to allow inequality and oppression to persist” and “recognize and name oppressive mathematical practices.”
Teachers have already begun implementing this controversial program in their classrooms. “Students are highly motivated by issues of fairness and justice, so I will give students the opportunity to understand how math has been used to do bad things to people,” one Seattle teacher told parents on the first day of school, according to Forbes contributor Colin Seale.
Supporters of the program say getting rid of right answers can serve as a tool to reach students struggling with math by tapping into their innate curiosity about fairness. Critics point out that instead of taking responsibility for their poor curriculum and ensuring that students learn, the district is hiding behind statistics, such as figures from the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction that show Seattle students of color perform significantly worse in math than their white peers.
Many education professionals worry the Seattle curriculum advances political talking points at the expense of rigorous learning. Some, citing questions from the district’s materials, argue students will be taught to question the absolute truth of mathematics and implicitly told not to strive to get the right answers on tests. Others accuse Seattle Public Schools of teaching kids that “math is racist.”
What kind of world will we live in without the absolute truth of mathematics? How will this generation develop the skills needed to build our cities, transportation systems or anything else that requires precision and a deep understanding of mathematics?
The district’s response to critics is unlikely to assuage their concerns.
“Nowhere in this document says that math is inherently racist,” Tracy Castro-Gill, Seattle Public Schools’ ethnic-studies manager, told the Seattle Times in 2019. “It’s how math is used as a tool for oppression.”