Written By Destiny Garcia-Rodriguez
The California Department of Education has started to work on new guidelines that will discourage allowing students to enroll in more rigorous math courses. Californias’ main reason for this is inequity in our education system as a result of natural talent and hard work. Like many schools in other states, students are placed in classes according to their grades and test scores. The state’s new plan is to force all students to take the same math classes regardless of previous grades or classes.
What the Department of Education does not understand is that there is no issue with letting advanced students challenge themselves to harder courses such as Calculus. Students thrive in an environment where they have educational options. The decision should be up to them not the state. The K-12 system is necessary to teach children all they need to know and prepare them for college or whatever it is that they decide to do after high school not “make them fall in love with math”.
By adopting this framework, California is preventing its students from succeeding in college and beyond by not challenging them and letting them grow to their full potential. The draft of the framework mentions the need to make math classes simpler so that students can find them more enjoyable yet, as educators, that is not their duty. The focus should be challenging the students with difficult but manageable material to increase their knowledge.
Furthermore, the second chapter of the framework encourages teachers to include topics such as bias and racism in math, “intentionally defining what it means to do and learn mathematics together in ways that include and highlight the languages, identities, and practices of historically marginalized communities.”. Including bizarre subjects like this in a math class will only confuse young students, instead, we should be teaching students challenging subjects and complex equations that have real-world applications.
The California Department of Education has been failing our students with ever-changing curriculum and standards, now they hope to take away opportunities from students who want to go above and beyond from a young age. This framework is currently under public review and should the state choose to adopt this new curriculum, our students and our future will suffer the most.
