In 2015, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal invited me to discuss education reform and my book, This Is Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education. I was still a classroom teacher then, imbued in the idea that teachers, particularly those doing STEM-related topics, should continuously seek professional development and stay curious about the math they didn’t know. Of course, I hadn’t taken into account that people would call into the show because a gentleman called in to proclaim the virtues of rudimentary math. In critiquing the Common Core State Standards, he said, “Can’t we just get back to basics?”
In my mind, I said “Hell no!” What I ended up saying was perhaps more eloquent.
Fast forward to now and it seems as if a coalition of back-to-basics folks and anti-intellectuals backed by billions of conservative monies have captured the narrative about how students should learn. For example, while I believe some advocates have great intentions in their advocacy for the science of reading, I also think the Venn diagram of people who support back-to-basics, want to ban TikTok, and vote for policies that exacerbate inequity make a sizeable intersection. While students, educators, and community members in our most under-resourced schools have advocated for strong emotional and academic supports, this coalition marches on, badgering public schools for suggesting we deserve a better society.
That’s part of my rationale for my work on understanding math and society.
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