Florida bans 54 math books because of critical race theory

[Magical Realist]

"The Florida education department has rejected 54 mathematics textbooks for its K-12 curriculum, citing reasons spanning the inclusion of critical race theory to Common Core learning concepts.

The rejected books make up a record 41% of the 132 books submitted for review, the Florida Department of Education said in a statement.

Of them, 28 were rejected because they "incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including [critical race theory]," the statement said.

Critical race theory has been described by scholars as an examination of racism and its impact through systems, such as legal, housing and education. However, it is typically not taught in K-12.

Twelve books were rejected because they did not meet Florida's benchmark standards, while 14 books were rejected because they both included prohibited topics and failed to meet curriculum standards.

The names of the rejected books were not included.

Some Florida Democrats voiced their opposition to the move on Twitter.

"@EducationFL just announced they're banning dozens of math textbooks they claim 'indoctrinate' students with CRT," said State House Rep. Carlos Smith. "They won't tell us what they are or what they say b/c it's a lie. #DeSantis has turned our classrooms into political battlefields and this is just the beginning."


"Apparently CRT is being taught in mathematics in Florida, so the @EducationFL has banned some of the math books. No, this is not 1963, it's 2022 in the 'Free State of Florida,'" said State Sen. Shevrin Jones.


State House Member Anna Eskamani said, "I get it. The goal of math is to solve problems which the Republican Party of Florida doesn't like to do."

Among grade levels, 70% of the math materials for kindergarten through fifth grades were rejected. Twenty percent of the materials for grades 6-8 were rejected, and 35% of materials for grades 9-12 were rejected.

"It seems that some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core, and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students," said Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In 2020, DeSantis removed Common Core concepts, a group of national academic targets in reading and math, from the state's curriculum. They were replaced by the Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking, or BEST, standards, also dedicated to reading and math.

In 2021, DeSantis banned the teaching of critical race theory, which he described as "the theory that racism is not merely the product of prejudice, but that racism is embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white person."

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/18/109327744...-textbooks

[C C]

54 seems a lot, alright. But OTOH...

Offshoots from ethnomathematics are part of the "new" trend in these textbooks. Even in the super Blue State of Minnesota, parents/educators rejected the first blueprint of new math criteria that tried to incorporate such affairs (below). If that's the reaction in a region like the Twin Cities, then a place like Florida would definitely go to town with it.

Of course, it's still a black box what (if anything) was in these books rejected by FDE. But if they were recent publications, then they probably do feature bits of some current wave of ideological prescription promoted by the administrative policies of academia.

Many defenders of CRT take the strategy of contending that it isn't a precise category ("a potpourri of loosely connected, scholarly ideas"), so as to shield the movement from criticism. But promoting that very ambiguity is what allows anything related to "woke" political activism to be shoe-horned under the label, or for the concept to be liberally slash widely applied to all sorts of endeavors.
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Negative response to Indigenous references in math standards
https://apnews.com/article/science-educa...c929897e43

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP): Feedback from parents and educators on the first draft of new math standards for Minnesota K-12 grades has been overwhelmingly negative to the references to the state’s American Indian tribes.

A Minnesota Department of Education committee is proposing 20 new standards which summarize what students are expected to learn in math.

Five of the standards apply math concepts to examples “found in historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe communities and in other communities,” the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

Since the document was released last month, parents and educators have called the tribal references “awkward,” “forced” and “ridiculous,” according to 265 responses to an education department survey.

“Our MN students are failing math readiness for college. Please prioritize basic math concepts uncluttered by attempts to mix math with social studies and politics,” wrote one respondent who is identified as a school administrator.

“Stop the disingenuous virtue signaling,” wrote a parent. “It is very insulting to us Anishinaabe people.”

A Pioneer Press analysis found 162 respondents to the state survey were clearly critical of the tribal references, while 15 were mostly supportive. The rest either were neutral or unclear about their views on the issue or did not address it in their comments.

Teachers, who accounted for roughly half the survey respondents, were somewhat more supportive of the tribal references than were parents, school board members and school administrators.