CRT in math class?! AIM discusses in a new story
April 21, 2022
Originally published at The Washington Times
Conservatives fight ‘woke math’ textbooks in K-12 schools
By Sean Salai – April 20, 2022
Conservatives are increasingly fighting to remove “woke” public school textbooks that present mathematics as a tool of White supremacy.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, announced Monday that the state Department of Education had rejected 41% of the math textbooks submitted for its K-12 curriculum next year, including 71% of K-5 math textbooks, because they include “references to critical race theory” or “social emotional learning.”
“Reveal Math K-5,” one of several textbooks from McGraw Hill that Florida rejected, encourages students to discuss how they feel about solving problems. Conservatives see the language as a Trojan horse for liberals to revive efforts to “decolonize” mathematics of a perceived bias against multicultural students.
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Adam Guillette, president of Accuracy in Media, said “Reveal Math K-5” shows how well-meaning public school equity officers want to push out the idea from these resources that America is systematically racist, even in mathematics. His conservative watchdog group has tracked such efforts in Iowa, Idaho and Tennessee.
“One would think K-5 math textbooks would be about addition, subtraction and long division,” Mr. Guillette said. “But the use of social emotional learning allows teachers to push ideas entirely unrelated to mathematics, opening the door to CRT.”
McGraw Hill did not respond to a request for comment on Florida’s rejection of its textbooks.