The Math Doesn't Add Up

 And, I do realize that Math is a Weak Point with the Left.

But, come ON!

Even someone 'educated' in today's schools ought to realize that the number don't add up.

Perhaps I overestimate the extent of the innumeracy.

Paolo Freire is kind of a Leftist Education God. He promoted 'Revolutionary Education' - students going into the oppressed areas of their country, bringing literacy with them.

It's a longterm goal for the South/Central American Left - the idea of bypassing the middle-class education establishment, and sending in poorly trained psuedo-revolutionaries to teach the downtrodden how to read the revolutionary slogans. In Mexico, it was called "Each One, Teach One" - that every person who could read should pass it along. If you understand the appeal of pyramid schemes, you can see how this idea catches fire at random intervals.

But, when you read the memoirs of the actual literacy volunteers, you see that their efforts were largely ignored.

First, the volunteers spoke a different language than many of the masses - Spanish, rather than Native languages and a smidgen of Spanish. So, most of the the revolutionary propaganda was lost on the coerced students.

Second, the culture of the pseudo-revolutionaries was alien to the masses - they were reflexively contemptuous of the Natives, anti-religion (ALL religions, both Catholic and the Native-Catholic mixed practices), and otherwise not able to relate to The People they sought to uplift.

Not unlike today's Woke Warriors.

Third, and probably most importantly, they ignored what the Natives sought - a better understanding of Math, which would help keep them from being cheated by the patrons they worked for. Once the Natives understood that they wouldn't be learning anything of value to them, they smiled and refused to return to school.

Nothing has changed. The Left is still sold on the concept of Teaching Revolution, rather than skills that might help people gain the ability to move out of the lowest classes.

There is nothing magical or hard-coded in the DNA of Black/POC that makes them unable to learn basic skills, like Math. There is nothing in the DNA that says that Asian students are destined to be the overlords by virtue of their superior intellect.

Believe me. I've taught a lot of students, White, Black, Mixed, Asian, Hispanic. The range of really smart to - frankly - a little dull, runs through ALL of the ethnic groups. NO group is incapable of improving.

We need to promote Math skills, the foundational competency, for ALL students. Not "Calculus for kindergartners". Actual Math - taught from the ground up, in a way that maximizes competency of basic skills, before moving on to HOTS (Higher Level Thinking Skills).

Schools could do worse than incorporating Saxon Math - not cheap, but time-tested. It has no magic, just a good program of explicitly teaching math, step by step, making sure that students mastered one step before progressing to the next. And, a lot of practice of prior skills.

Such a program should not be taught by grade/age level, but by mastered skill level. Kids would be free to progress at their OWN pace.

Off Topic - But Timely

The ZMan has a post up at Taki's Magazine. It deals with the impact of the Puritans, and how we are still feeling the effects of their influence.

I was raised in Yankeeland - The Northern part of Ohio is solidly part of that heritage. See the map below.

My ancestry includes the Yankeedom region, which my family's moved to from New Netherland and Greater Applachia. It includes Dutch and Deutsch, Irish and English

No actual New England Yankees, though. Later arrivals.

Anyway, I highly suggest you read the article above, as well as the linked article in it, which refers to The Hartford Convention. We really need to have a History of America, which focuses on the extent to which our Beloved Elite have screwed all of the rest of us over and over again.