The National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics called on public schools to change curriculum in order to advance “social justice” causes like combating “privilege” and “oppression” in mathematics.
The organization trains math teachers across the U.S. and Canada and aims to “improve the world” through better teaching of mathematic concepts.
Their latest statement says math teachers need to also include “social justice” in their lesson plans.
“A social justice stance requires a systemic approach that includes fair and equitable teaching practices, high expectations for all students, access to rich, rigorous, and relevant mathematics, and strong family/community relationships to promote positive mathematics learning and achievement,” read the NCSM statement. “Equally important, a social justice stance interrogates and challenges the roles power, privilege, and oppression play in the current unjust system of mathematics education—and in society as a whole.
The NCSM called for teachers to acknowledge that current mathematics curriculum is “unjust” because it is “grounded in a legacy of institutional discrimination based on race, ethnicity, class, and gender.”
The statement went on to say that school boards need to conduct annual audits on whether they have satisfactorily implemented the social justice action items recommended by the NCSM.
“We must hold the profession and our organizations accountable to making a just and equitable mathematics education a sustainable reality,” the NCSM said.
The campaign from the NCSM is at odds with claims from those criticizing bans on Critical Race Theory in schools. They say that CRT isn’t taught in schools and instead insist that Republican politicians simply want to erase all inconvenient lessons about racism in U.S. history.
Critics of CRT argue that it sends children the wrong message about dwelling on racism in the past instead of moving forward.
Here’s more about Critical Race Theory:
STEP BY STEP: Here’s how you can use FACTS & logic to argue against critical (race) theory www.youtube.com