Mathematics, Wokeness, and Root Cause

As near as I can tell, “woke” is an open code word for “social justice.”  I taught at a Catholic university for several years in the 1990s, and there was certainly a lot of talk about social justice.  I also graduated from what it self-describes as a conservative Christian college, where we had mandatory weekly chapel attendance (the chapel sessions interspersed religious topics with general topics of interest to a wide range of people, so it wasn’t as demanding as it sounds).  In my mind, social justice, which I interpret as treating all with dignity and respect, is something you can agree or disagree with, but you don’t have to jump in hook, line, and sinker.  You simply move on.  I recognize that some embrace it as a life mission, but you don’t have to listen to them if you don’t want to.

The rejiggering of California’s mathematics curriculum to largely eliminate core mathematics topics because too many students fail at mathematics is held up as an example of woke attitudes.  Instead, they want to teach “fun” courses in which mathematics plays only an incidental role.

Whether or not it is woke, I have strong feelings on the topic.  Mathematics is the foundation of all of our sciences and engineering.  To not teach algebra, calculus, and beyond as a prelude to higher education and a future in science and technology is a disservice to the most highly populated state of the union, of the country, and of society in general.  Others agree.

I also have strong opinions as to why we have reached this point.  Primary and secondary school teaching of mathematics is abysmal.  Too many teachers simply don’t have an understanding of what they are trying to teach.  The better students muddle through anyway, but the lesser students become scarred by the experience, and live their lives believing they are not “math people.”

That is simply bullshit.  Everyone has the capability of doing fundamental math, with the right instruction.  The vast majority don’t get the right instruction.  And until we can improve that, proposals like this trash are going to become more common.