Ontario: Math Is “Subjective” And “Used to Normalize Racism and Marginalization of Non-Eurocentric Mathematical Knowledges”
Ontario: Math Is “Subjective” And “Used to Normalize Racism and Marginalization of Non-Eurocentric Mathematical Knowledges”Ontario Grade 9 curriculum: “a decolonial, anti-racist approach to mathematics education makes visible its historical roots and social constructions.”
It’s not only crazy, it’s completely unfair to the students.
The Toronto Sun reports:
Ontario’s new Grade 9 curriculum preaches ‘subjective’ nature of mathematics
It’s apparently about more than just the numbers.
Changes to Ontario’s math curriculum announced last year by Education Minister Stephen Lecce will include a ‘subjective’ and ‘decolonial’ approach to mathematics, according to documents posted on the ministry’s website.
“Mathematics is often positioned as an objective and pure discipline,” reads a section of an online brief highlighting the ‘vision and goals’ of the updated curriculum.
“However, the content and the context in which it is taught, the mathematicians who are celebrated, and the importance that is placed upon mathematics by society are subjective.”
Math, it continues, has been “used to normalize racism and marginalization of non-Eurocentric mathematical knowledges,” and explains that taking a “decolonial” and “anti-racist approach” to teaching math will outline its “historical roots and social constructions” to students.
“The Ontario Grade 9 mathematics curriculum emphasizes the need to recognize and challenge systems of power and privilege, both inside and outside the classroom, in order to eliminate systemic barriers and to serve students belonging to groups that have been historically disadvantaged and underserved in mathematics education,” the brief continues.
Are parents in Ontario really going to accept this?
Ontario’s new math curriculum looks informative and rigorous!https://t.co/709EZiT1ta pic.twitter.com/ofrSCVsj1U
— James Lindsay, getting one billion moms (@ConceptualJames) July 10, 2021
This is the official curriculum text James Lindsay is displaying in that tweet:
Mathematics is often positioned as an objective and pure discipline. However, the content and the context in which it is taught, the mathematicians who are celebrated, and the importance that is placed upon mathematics by society are subjective. Mathematics has been used to normalize racism and marginalization of non-Eurocentric mathematical knowledges, and a decolonial, anti-racist approach to mathematics education makes visible its historical roots and social constructions. The Ontario Grade 9 mathematics curriculum emphasizes the need to recognize and challenge systems of power and privilege, both inside and outside the classroom, in order to eliminate systemic barriers and to serve students belonging to groups that have been historically disadvantaged and underserved in mathematics education.
As an engineer with a masters in finance, be assured this is doing a disservice to future generations who will need to compete with skills in the borderless Information Age. Grade 9 students simply need to establish confidence in basic math skills. Math is not a social science.
— Paul Relf (@Paul_Relf) July 10, 2021
Canada is increasingly the model for progressive authoritarianism. And for getting rid of math. https://t.co/Y8vn5XU1Il
— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) July 10, 2021
What’s next? Social justice in nuclear fission?