Algebra To Return To San Francisco Middle Schools This Fall (axios.com) 97
After a 6-1 vote by the district board, San Francisco middle schools will teach Algebra I again this fall. Axios reports: Roughly a third of SFUSD middle schools this fall will begin offering the course to eighth graders at about a third of its 13 middle schools as well as six of its K-8 schools, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Students at other campuses will have access to the course via online classes or summer school while their schools take three years to make the transition. Those eighth graders will otherwise have to wait until high school to take the course.
District officials plan to evaluate the best way to enroll students throughout the district in a pilot at the first schools this fall. The first approach would be to enroll all eighth graders. The second would prioritize students' interest or readiness. The third would give students the option of taking Algebra I on top of current eighth-grade math curricula.
The 6-1 vote by the San Francisco Unified School District board Tuesday followed a decadelong battle over eighth graders' access to higher-level math courses and a larger debate over academic opportunity and equity in math performance. SFUSD previously taught eighth-grade algebra. But in 2014, the board voted to wait until high school to try to address racial gaps that had emerged as some students moved quicker to advanced math classes. Studies have shown that inequities including socioeconomic status, language differences and implicit bias often impede Black and Latino students' educational pursuits and result in lower rates of enrollment in higher-level classes. Yes, but: Stanford researchers found last year that large racial and ethnic gaps in advanced math enrollment persisted even after the policy change.
District officials plan to evaluate the best way to enroll students throughout the district in a pilot at the first schools this fall. The first approach would be to enroll all eighth graders. The second would prioritize students' interest or readiness. The third would give students the option of taking Algebra I on top of current eighth-grade math curricula.
The 6-1 vote by the San Francisco Unified School District board Tuesday followed a decadelong battle over eighth graders' access to higher-level math courses and a larger debate over academic opportunity and equity in math performance. SFUSD previously taught eighth-grade algebra. But in 2014, the board voted to wait until high school to try to address racial gaps that had emerged as some students moved quicker to advanced math classes. Studies have shown that inequities including socioeconomic status, language differences and implicit bias often impede Black and Latino students' educational pursuits and result in lower rates of enrollment in higher-level classes. Yes, but: Stanford researchers found last year that large racial and ethnic gaps in advanced math enrollment persisted even after the policy change.
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OK, then what happens to the leaves?
Sounds racist. Better put a stop to that quick. (Score:4, Interesting)
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Soft bigotry of low expectations (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine that, depriving students of "advanced" math classes like algebra does nothing to make them more prepared for mathematics in later grades.
Re:Soft bigotry of low expectations (Score:5, Insightful)
no no no... The idea was to deprive the capable students so that they would fall back to the level of their more-limited classmates. Enforced equality.
The Handicapper General would have been proud.
Re:Soft bigotry of low expectations (Score:5, Informative)
"The idea of math being culturally neutral because two-plus-two-equals-four reeks of white supremacist patriarchy,” Laurie Rubel. [twitter.com]
There are all sorts of claims that she did not tweet precisely what I quoted, and it is in fact true that the way she phrases her tweet makes it hard to parse. But an honest review of the twitter thread will reveal that the quotation is substantially correct in spirit.
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"You’re unable to view this Post because this account owner limits who can view their Posts."
Exclusionary Twitter account apparently.
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We are all equal, or else!
Equality in Education. (Score:2, Informative)
no no no... The idea was to deprive the capable students so that they would fall back to the level of their more-limited classmates. Enforced equality.
The Handicapper General would have been proud.
The Sales Pitch: No Child Left Behind.
The Reality: No Moron Left Behind. Teach Appropriately.
That is how you end up with a noticeable portion of a generation taught under this now being completely unprepared for even a minor disruption or problem to arise in their adult lives. It explains the prevalence of "snowflakes" having meltdowns. Tends to also explain the increase in Rx dependency too.
Now we have a nation full of financially sane-but-pissed taxpayers bailing out the Privileged Class who felt the
Re:Equality in Education. (Score:5, Interesting)
The Sales Pitch: No Child Left Behind.
The Reality: None of the public school proles allowed to excel and take away jobs from the aristocracy.
It's got nothing to do with that (Score:1)
That's an extreme example to illustrate the point but the fact is people who study how to teach k
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if we can teach algebra in eighth grade why the hell aren't we teaching differential calculus in kindergarten?
This is the stupidest thing I have read so far today.
introducing algebra too early was causing problems.
Can you cite some data to support this claim?
Re:It's got nothing to do with that (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh, bullocks. Algebra 1, which was the highest level math available to me when I was in the 8th grade, is child's play... literally. Unless you're lazy and just don't want to learn, math doesn't really start to get challenging until Calculus 2. And, IIRC, that's only available before college in the International Baccalaureate program which is, unfortunately, fairly rare and was only introduced in my school district when I was already in my senior year and it was too late.
All it takes is time management skills and the willingness to put in the work. Only two of the other kids in my algebra 1 class didn't move on to algebra 2 as high school freshmen. And those two were far more dedicated to their music classes... so, basically a choice, and still stepped up to algebra 1 honors in high school. Kids really aren't as dumb as you seem to think they are.
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I had Algebra I in 7th grade, which was not uncommon in my region and still isn't. It's definitely not high school math. Also, there's Advance Placement, which has Calculus BC which is Calculus I and II, combined. I took it in 11th grade, and took Calculus III and Linear Algebra+Differential Equations at the local Community College for free in 12th grade. This was back when Michigan had great public schools. Now, I don't think it's quite as good, although I'd be surprised if my specific district has fallen
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Kids really aren't as dumb as you seem to think they are.
That is the thing though. Some really are that dumb. most are not. Some are far smarter than you give them credit for.
Long story short, kids, as a group, lack experience. There is no a priori reason for a kid not to be able to do advanced mental work other than lack of prior experience. Give them the experience and you could have a 12 year old solving the secrets of the universe. Time is the only reason we do not expect such achievements from children. They didn't have enough time to learn.
Kids are people n
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When I was in high school, I followed the science-mathematics track from age 12 to 18 (8 hours of math per week: when I left high school I could do differentiation, integration, matrices, combinatorics, probability... on a level which one would get in the bachelors in the US), others followed the Latin-Greek, or Latin-math, or economics-accounting, or modern languages tracks in the same school depending on interest and talen
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half day Kindergarten
regular 1st
High
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I do not know how US education is organized, is everybody taking the same classes?
Through grade school, yes*. Everyone takes the same classes, and is given the same basis of education -although some may be on an advanced path vs others (gifted, special needs, etc.)
In high school we begin to allow differentiation. There are mandatory classes continuing the basics that everyone is expected to learn, and there are electives where we can choose to study what interests us and set our future path.
* There are regional differences (we are a union of 50 states, much like the EU is a union of ma
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no no no... The idea was to deprive the capable students so that they would fall back to the level of their more-limited classmates. Enforced equality.
Yep. My older sister got into trouble for teaching me reading and arithmetic when I was just arriving at school. They didn't want me to be smart. They wanted me to be have the same knowledge and insight (lack of) as everyone else. It felt very "communist' and 'social order' to me, which was anathema to the values they were teaching us. The US is fucked HARD. Oh well, i hope they have fun continuing to damage America in the name of making America Great. Or is it some transnational conspiracy that bypasses an
Special needs ... (Score:3)
Re:Special needs ... (Score:4, Insightful)
In the words of a German comedian, you can't call them broke and living off wellfare anymore, they are now the Precariat. You have to call them that so they don't know we're talking about them.
Language is used today as some kind of smoke bomb. You're not supposed to understand what's going on. And as soon as you do, the language has to change. Back when I was in uni and a friend of mine was becoming a social worker, the whole "special" thing was picking up. We don't call them handicapped anymore, we call them "people with special needs". Ok.
Fast forward to today, and "special" has become the generally accepted word for "dimwit". It's even used in jokes (like for the Ukraine war, "An operation so special it rides the short bus"). And everyone gets the joke. So "special" is the new "stupid".
So we have to change the wording again. And we will do the same in 10 years when "higher" has become the new "dumb".
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Euclid: 'There is no royal road to geometry.'
https://www.socratic-method.co... [socratic-method.com]
So I remember the initial stories (Score:2)
The reason was we were forcing students into algebra before they were ready and studies have found that it was putting the students off from math permanently. They would have a bad year or two in mathematics and just take it for granted that they would never be able to get ahead in math.
For the students who could do the math we used to have magnet schools but rampant budget cuts brought on by school voucher programs used to
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studies have found
Got a citation for these "studies"?
rampant budget cuts brought on by school voucher programs
School vouchers are used by less than 1% of students in the 13 states that offer them and by 0.2% of students in America as a whole.
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If that explanation was correct how come they see no positive results from the policy and are backtracking now? The obvious solution is to have extra remedial classes to help those who fall behind. We still want kids who understand math.
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In my school, Algebra was always a mid level mathematics course. New York had lower level course work geared towards those who were going to go into the trades as an example, and they took general math and received a general diploma. The majority were tracked towards a regents diploma, which required algebra, geometry and trigonometry in math as an example, and was targeted at those looking to move on to higher educational pursuits. Lastly, there were higher, more competitive level course work which eventua
Good way to push students (Score:3, Insightful)
Algebra is "Higher math"? Really??? (Score:3, Insightful)
US No Child Left Behind
1st grade: +
2nd grade: -
3rd grade: x
4th grade: /
So what is it exactly they're learning from 5th through 8th they can't learn algebra and trig? Parenthesis and exponents? /smdh
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I saw a video and it was a man on the street question to 4 college students. "What is 4 times 15" none of them could answer.
Re:Algebra is "Higher math"? Really??? (Score:5, Insightful)
I imagine you could get a video showing that with basically any question if you asked enough people
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Yes, it does. This seems to be the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] Apparently, they also have no clue what a quarter of a ce
Re: Algebra is "Higher math"? Really??? (Score:2)
There's no evidence that she only asked the 11 people she ultimately featured (I also didn't watch the thing, so I don't even know if she got the same embarrassingly bad answers out of all of them. Or if it was flat out staged for views.
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Which is IMHO the case for almost all of those videos. There is no way people are that dumb.
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Well, my calculator says it's "low batt".
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Re: Algebra is "Higher math"? Really??? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Algebra in 1st grade. (Score:2)
Groups?
RIngs?
Ideals?
Re: Algebra in 1st grade. (Score:1)
Lie down in a ring in an open field and dream of an ideal...pass the joint....
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Groups are exclusive, ideals are giving off a false and skewed self image and rings sound like you're trying to push the patriarchy idea of a woman having to be married to be worth anything.
Dude, you cannot teach THAT today!!!
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I feel like algebra is the foundation to basic logical thought, and find it absolutely disgusting that it just be "left out." How are these people deciding what's in any curriculum? What an absolute disgrace.
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Algebra wasn't "left out". It wasn't offered until the ninth grade since that grade is in the high school building so you just offer algebra classes and then assign the students ready to take the subject regardless of grade to algebra classes.
The issue was offering it at the eight grade, since that grade is in different school buildings. There needs to be enough students capable of taking an algebra class to justify assigning a teacher and a classroom rather than using that teacher time and room time for an
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My four year old can do math with X.
Math isn't hard. Start there.
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5th grade was fractions, least common multiple, greatest common denominator, etc.
Sixth grade was how to do square roots by hand, that's all I remember. That and the teacher was incompetent.
Seventh was right angle trigonometry and construction geometry, constructing parallel lines, tangents, etc with compass and straight edge.
Eighth was Egyptian counting with the little lotus flowers, and different number bases and converting between them.
Ninth was indeed Algebra 1.
Somewhere in there before algebra was prime
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Why Johnny Cant Math (Score:5, Insightful)
Stanford researchers found last year that large racial and ethnic gaps in advanced math enrollment persisted even after the policy change.
If the kid doesn't want to learn, has no parental guidance, and is distracted by other things in life then he won't learn anything in school. If the parents provide an environment that fosters learning then Johnny will math. Schools can't be everything to everybody even though some see them as the solution to society's ills, they are a place to learn, not solve sociology issues with home life.
Re: Why Johnny Cant Math (Score:1, Interesting)
Which is pretty much correct way of thinking for some, if the government will provide you a decent living standard for doing nothing, why would you put in any effort. Especially if you get more money by becoming a professional victim.
Re:Why Johnny Cant Math (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Why Johnny Cant Math (Score:5, Insightful)
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Maybe such kids should be sent to a school where they learn what they will need in life. How to react when you get arrested, how to apply for a burger flipper job and so on.
I'm fairly sure if they spend a week or two with their peers, i.e. other kids whose main interest is in destroying everyone else's chance at an education, they may get wise after a broken bone or a stab in the stomach.
Re: Why Johnny Cant Math (Score:4, Insightful)
Johnny can't math because the school teachers, as a group, can't math. People who can math command higher salaries than school teachers in all but the top 20% or so school districts.
So if Johnny lives in a suburb where the schools budget actually goes to teacher salaries, he might learn to math from someone who can put 2 and 2 together and get 4 more often than not. But if Johnny goes to school in a big city district where that same money gets pissed away on teaching half the kids how they're oppressed and the other half how they're the oppressors, that don't leave much money for paying people who know what they're doing.
Re: Why Johnny Cant Math (Score:4, Interesting)
If a teacher already spends 50% of his time with administrative duties, and I don't mean what one could consider "normal" administration like checking whether everyone's there but rather keeping the kids from killing each other (or the teacher) and trying to get the kids to at least understand what's being taught today because they barely speak the language, and then keep them from distracting the rest of the kids because they're bored since they can't follow the lesson at all, well, even if the teachers could teach the subject they are supposed to teach, they don't have the time to do so.
Not that I disagree with the rest, but in our schools, we have way too many kids that simply don't belong in those classes and should instead be taught in an environment and at a speed that fits their abilities. But we cannot do that, no child left behind! Or rather, no child allowed to excel!
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Schools can't be everything to everybody even though some see them as the solution to society's ills, they are a place to learn...
I'd tell you to scream that last part again even louder from the back with a bullhorn, but I'm afraid the purple-haired gender activist standing in the front of the room speaking about modern cat pronouns, happens to be the one we call teacher.
Good luck selling that 'trad' mentality in a classroom. I'd give it until the end of the month before a dozen studies are published speaking on the ills of 'racist' math standards.
Unbelievable (Score:5, Insightful)
Ah...the dumbing down of America.
Let's penalize all students and limit their chances at advanced math and science in high school and college. Brilliant plan. Not.
Glad they figured out this was a bad idea.
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I'm not sure they did figure that out. They just noticed it didn't work. The dumb students were still dumb, despite their curricular gerrymandering. On to plan B, I guess.
Re: Unbelievable (Score:2)
Lobotomies for the smart kids?
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Well, it deteriorates obedience and respect for authority if the student is smarter than the teacher...
Re:Unbelievable (Score:5, Funny)
Social justice warriors persistently steep themselves in delusion until reality finally kicks them in the face. Or breaks into their home. Or shits in their stairwell.
This is just another example.
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" limit their chances at advanced math and science in high school "
The weren't limiting math in high school. The questions is about offering algebra in eight grade, which is not at the high school, with the staff available in the middle schools vs. offering other education with that staff. Even now they are trying to figure out HOW to offer it since they don't have enough teachers to offer algebra in person at al of the middle schools.
Terrorism (Score:5, Funny)
al Gebra is introducing our children to weapons of math instruction.
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Re: Terrorism (Score:1)
Amazing how a culture can simultaneously produce world-leading intellects and stone women for showing their hair. Should take the piss out of the western superiority complex, if only a little.
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viz. the word's origin and the romanticized view of how scholars across the Muslim world advanced sciences during the European 'dark' age prior to the Renaissance before they were driven out of the peninsular by the Reconquista.
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The rot starts in elementary school, where kids are forced to use the Latino alphabet , as well as Arabic numbers.
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You jest, but yes, algebra derives from the Arabic word for "putting together" or "mending". Likewise, our word "algebra" derives from Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi [wikipedia.org], as it's easy to determine from the name, a Scottish scholar.
So what happened in the Middle East that they used to be the spearhead of science and now they are, well, let's say "no longer"? Well, as usual, the West is to blame.
We came along in 1066 and taught them the benefits of religious extremism. The main effect of the Crusades wasn't that
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Oh dammit, it's algorithm, not algebra, that we took from Al-Khwarizmi.
Guess I should first have a coffee. Maybe make it a Turkish one.
I am sad (Score:5, Interesting)
After speaking to some family members and friends that are either teachers, speech therapy, or principals in a relatively decent school system - they all say we're fucked. The kids are unruly, unmotivated and sometimes stupid. Then they met the parents.
Re: I am sad (Score:1)
Hehe. 25 years ago when I was a kid, the teachers were openly wondering at us if there was something in the water making us kids dumb.
This whole ongoing mess just reinforces my belief in a version of the great man theory of history: society is shaped by the actions of a very small minority of productive people--some famous, but most anonymous; the rest of us just ride along and pretend to be in control.
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...they all say we're fucked.
Quite the opposite. The U.S. military needs a stead supply of idiots for its war machine, and the public school system is addressing the need.
Well score another win for (Score:2)
They skipped algebra? (Score:5, Informative)
I am a softy. I had lot of trouble with this approach when I started teaching. Colleagues encouraged me. Kids need this. They need to know it is complicated out there. But luckily not all of the courses are this hard for them.
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They did not skip algebra. The issue was making algebra classes available at the eighth grade level, since in that district eight grade is in middle school buildings while algebra is otherwise taught in high school buildings so it was easy to offer starting in the ninth grade..
You could have easily determined this for yourself by reading the summary.
Re: They skipped algebra? (Score:2)
2nd order question (Score:3)
...have we seen consequences for the morons who advocated, then implemented these stupid policies?
Keeping them say from any future decision making (and maybe a healthy dose of public humiliation?) should also be a necessity.
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...have we seen consequences for the morons who advocated, then implemented these stupid policies?
Yes, we have seen the consequences. Promotions and raises for the people properly implementing the policies. They provided what was requested and were rewarded for it directly. What did you think normally happens when people do the job they are requested to do? (yes, the external results are seen as negative by many people, but to other, more important people, the results exceeded their wildest fantasies, which means it is barely succeeding)
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At first I was going to respond angrily then ...yes, I sadly get your point.
I'm sorry, but I didn't first recognize a level of cynicism comparable to my own.
Math is of course racist (Score:2)
.
teachers? (Score:2)
Are there any competent teachers of algebra left in SF?
A year earlier than we learned it (Score:2)
Let me guess... (Score:2)
Roughly a third of SFUSD middle schools this fall will begin offering the course to eighth graders at about a third of its 13 middle schools as well as six of its K-8 schools, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Students at other campuses will have access to the course via online classes or summer school while their schools take three years to make the transition. Those eighth graders will otherwise have to wait until high school to take the course.
Let me guess, the middle school teachers will have attend training sessions to (re)learn Algebra, and the district will hire countless teachers to create brand new curriculums for these algebra classes, because, well, the curriculums they used before lacks the necessary Diversity, Equity and Inclusive word problems and were geared towards students getting the correct answer to the problems (which we now know is racist [nationalreview.com]), and instead the new classes will focus on a students effort, and the students answers wi
Teach them at the level they can learn and grow (Score:2)
I don't see why that's a big deal. We had different levels of math for the same age and grade in the 80s. My kids just went through the same large California district that I did and they had the same opportunity, actually more. I did Calc in senior which was limited to two classes. They did it junior and did Calc 2 senior and passed the AP tests. And ... there should be different levels for those who aren't as strong in math. We are all different and a good district will be reasonable to accommodate within
Isn't 8th grade kinda late? (Score:2)
It takes approximately 4 months to use Khan Academy to progress from Algebra 1 to Multivariable Calculus (I know this to be a fact). Any 12 year old should be able to achieve this with a few hours a day.
Study (Score:1)