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While I agree that the proposals are bad, I don't blame "committees full of government employees". One of the lead proponents/authors is distinguished Stanford

by smugma 5y ago

While I agree that the proposals are bad, I don't blame "committees full of government employees". One of the lead proponents/authors is distinguished Stanford Professor Jo Boaler. It's interesting that a lot of the arguments made in favor of the changes are done in the name of equity, but Boaler herself has been put on the wrong side of racial equity, threatening to call the cops on a Black Berkeley CS professor. This article [0] is gossipy, but it's both interesting and relevant how "Nice White People" can hurt the minority groups they are supposedly trying to help. Hurt by taking away opportunities to take calculus, and hurt by threatening legal action against one of the few minority CS professors at a leading research institution. [0]: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Stanford-professor-Karen-speaks-out-17064784.php https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Stanford-professor-Ka...

fn-mote 5y ago
> One of the lead proponents/authors is distinguished Stanford Professor Jo Boaler.. I have an issue with the parent's gossipy put-down of Professor Boaler. I think it's important to emphasize that genuine intellectuals who have put serious thought into this proposal support it. I would prefer more serious engagement with it, even if on HN the majority disagree.
rayiner 5y ago
It's mind boggling to me that this Twitter fight gone wrong is a bigger deal to people than the lack of scientific rigor in Boaler's work.
- ummonk 5y ago
  No, the point is that the fight undermines Boaler’s use of the racism / equity card which she uses in response to critics of her work.
  - rayiner 5y ago
    Oh, I missed the context: https://stanfordreview.org/boaler-professor/ https://stanfordreview.org/boaler-professor/. I didn’t realize Boaler had a history of doing that (though I guess I’m not surprised). Prof. Nelson sounds like a champion.
lern_too_spel 5y ago
Boaler taught sixth and seventh grade math before becoming a professor of education. She might know how to teach pre-algebra concepts, but I do not believe she understands which high school math is most useful. A lot of students in the US learn physics without calculus, which is basically useless. It's just a set of magic formulae to plug and chug. We should not go further in that direction but instead go in the other direction.

by smugma 5y ago

fn-mote 5y ago

> One of the lead proponents/authors is distinguished Stanford Professor Jo Boaler.. I have an issue with the parent's gossipy put-down of Professor Boaler. I think it's important to emphasize that genuine intellectuals who have put serious thought into this proposal support it. I would prefer more serious engagement with it, even if on HN the majority disagree.

rayiner 5y ago

It's mind boggling to me that this Twitter fight gone wrong is a bigger deal to people than the lack of scientific rigor in Boaler's work.

ummonk 5y ago
No, the point is that the fight undermines Boaler’s use of the racism / equity card which she uses in response to critics of her work.
- rayiner 5y ago
  Oh, I missed the context: https://stanfordreview.org/boaler-professor/ https://stanfordreview.org/boaler-professor/. I didn’t realize Boaler had a history of doing that (though I guess I’m not surprised). Prof. Nelson sounds like a champion.

lern_too_spel 5y ago

Boaler taught sixth and seventh grade math before becoming a professor of education. She might know how to teach pre-algebra concepts, but I do not believe she understands which high school math is most useful. A lot of students in the US learn physics without calculus, which is basically useless. It's just a set of magic formulae to plug and chug. We should not go further in that direction but instead go in the other direction.