The issue I have here is that this is a lesson on polynomials, and the lesson is saying implicit bias can be defined by a precise equation that involves a third-degree polynomial. And this is despite the fact that implicit bias is probably a qualitative measure at best, rather than a quantitative one, and political identification is certainly a qualitative measure rather than a quantitative one. If professional statisticians were looking at this, they might argue if there was even a statistically valid linear relationship after controlling for other potential causal factors, but in this lesson they are modeling with a precise third-degree polynomial.
So unless a teacher is significantly digressing into statistics during a lesson on polynomials, the assumption of the students will be that relationships like this can be precisely explained mathematically. Since that’s not true, it’s better not to use a word problem than to use a bad word problem.
I recognize that this was chosen by Florida as a bad example, and it certainly qualifies as such. I certainly hope that the books have examples of good word problems. For example, I expect that a third-degree polynomial can closely estimate the relationship between population and average income.
Well, I personally liked Picoult’s 19 Minutes. But I can imagine that it might not be the book I would put in a school library, and if the next school shooter is found to have checked out that book from his library, there would be lawsuits.
One of the authors interviewed said she assumed it was the abortion issue in her book which was the problem. I am fine with that issue, but I expect some would demand an anti-abortion novel should also be provided to balance the offerings, and maybe the Board didnt want to deal with that.
Yup, Everyday Math was the program my kids were using in elementary school with the spiraling curriculum. I remember when algebra showed up, and the kid was in maybe 2nd grade? I said to him, okay, now I will show you how to set up an equation with an unknown, and solve for the unknown. He said, “We’re supposed to use guess and check.” And I said, you can do that, too, but you’re going to learn the right way to do it. He got it very quickly. But it was so absurd, that they should be doing algebra before the school taught carrying and borrowing, or multiplying 2 digits by 2 digits.
At least they didn’t have socioemotional indoctrination woven into the curriculum. Honestly, this seems even worse than that crappy Everyday Math curriculum.
The opinion my D’s and I have come to is Fear. Fear is very powerful. It’s being fed to people constantly these days. D2 is reading the Hate U Give right now. It’s for a humanities class on emotions. The one thing she has taken from the class is how much fear drives people.
Fear of litigation may be an appropriate concern for the Board. Many schools have issues with teens mental health and suicide, and cant keep up with the current recommendation on 13 Reasons Why, for example. Offer it only if a counselor is available? Offer it only to age 14 and above? Heaven forbid a kid reads it at school and later takes their own life, lawsuits sure to follow.
I read 13 Reasons Why and told my kids it was not the book for them. I know our schools put out the warning about the show as well. It was on our middle school shelves, only one copy. I personally didn’t like the book.
The school district is afraid that some family will sue them because their child read a book about two male penguins raising a chick together (true story), and then later, the child realizing he himself was gay? Nah, this is not about fear of lawsuits. It’s about resisting normalization of homosexuality, and keeping kids ignorant about human sexual functioning (It’s Perfectly Normal) and sex in general (any book that mentions people having sex, especially same gender sex).
Have you read the books on the list? Many have nothing to do with LGBTQ issues. Nonconsenual sex, teen suicide, abortion-there are a variety of potential issues that go beyond a blanket anti-gay statement.
Same. In fact I gathered all the neighborhood children of the same age and set up a math circle on Sunday afternoons. They all got basic Algebra really fast and I’m happy to report all went into accelerated math in middle school and said goodbye to (in our case) Common Core math. Math education in the US perplexes me.
Perhaps a reason (not necessarily the only reason) that the Bible is sometimes excluded, as mentioned upthread. Of course, you go into a church and read it there…
One need only read the Old Testament if they want to see plenty of examples of things to shield young kids from (if that’s their thing). It’s not all Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, or David and Goliath. Very little of it is taught in a typical Sunday School.
It can be as simple as the fear of change even when multiple real life studies show something “new” is far superior or something as dire as “Armageddon is upon us” if something is/isn’t done.
It’s often couched in simple sound bites, that, when examined, have little to no substance to them, eg “Life was better in the good old days.” What “good old days?” The ones where humans tended to die younger and were often warring with each other or starving - causing multiple people/countries to create the “rules” we have now? Or the ones that are similar to, “we didn’t need seatbelts and we still lived!” that totally ignore those who didn’t - again - causing the laws we have now when those alive then were aghast and wanted to “fix it.”
If one truly studies history (world and US) from writings and art, one sees that humans really haven’t changed over the eons. It doesn’t matter if it was thousands of years ago or within the last hundred. Some things have been invented (thank you for indoor plumbing!), but humans overall - their mindsets and what they choose to do - haven’t changed.
I am going out in a limb and assume that Ron DeSantis does not post on CC. So don’t be surprised that any post that includes the phrase “DeSantis knows …” will be obliterated. Feel free to substitute any other name in the above sentences and the statement will be equally valid.
“Ibelieve that censorship grows out of fear, and because fear is contagious, some parents are easily swayed. Book banning satisfies their need to feel in control of their children’s lives. This fear is often disguised as moral outrage. They want to believe that if their children don’t read about it, their children won’t know about it. And if they don’t know about it, it won’t happen.’”
This was the executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition back in 2015 when an edition of the Merriam-Webster dictionary was banned in a school district because it had the definition of “oral sex” in it.
