Paper swaps out ‘racist math’ headline after backlash
USA Today was forced to swap out a headline asking if math was “racist” after reader outcry. The replacement – “Is math education racist?” – wasn’t much better, and teachers are up in arms over their discipline’s demonization.
Tuesday’s original headline literally asked “Is math racist?” before qualifying it by noting “schools are altering instruction – sometimes amid intense debate” while “many students of color struggle with the subject.” After the headline drew outrage from teachers and parents alike, USA Today tweaked the title.
By the following day, the headline asked, “Is math education racist?” and suggested “debate rages” over changes to how the subject was being taught. Not mentioned was the debate raging over how the subject was being written about.
The article was also by then behind a paywall, but, as the internet never forgets, commenters continued to react with disgust. In addition to the readers offended by the original title, legions of commenters perturbed by USA Today’s efforts to cover up its own “racism” made a point of weighing in on the issue.
“Math is not racist,” Washington Times columnist Tim Young noted, but “‘educators’ who think it needs to be changed and made easier because some black kids struggle with it…ARE.”
Math isn't racist... but the "educators" who think it needs to be changed and made easier because some black kids struggle with it... ARE.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) December 8, 2021
Former Portland State University professor Peter Boghossian – who resigned in September over his own fatigue with the tsunami of wokeness engulfing his employer – agreed, arguing that “[USA Today] even asking this question is a sign of cultural sickness.”
No, math is not racist. Major venues like @USATODAY even asking this question is a sign of cultural sickness. Racial disparities can be addressed (in part) by using the best evidence-based pedagogical practices that enable student learning. Please stop suggesting math is racist pic.twitter.com/aZHAC9L0rR
— Peter Boghossian (@peterboghossian) December 8, 2021
The article itself focused in part on dueling letters sent by thousands of California mathematics and science professors to the state. One insists the only way to improve low-performing students’ math skills is to teach them the basics, dismissing the new “equity”-based approach as “an endless river of new pedagogical fads” that effectively “dumb down math instruction.”
Critics of the new math, like California State University, Los Angeles math professor Wayne Bishop, have noted that while these programs might result in higher grades for struggling students in the bubble of high school, “fewer are prepared for a hard science or engineering college regimen.”
Proponents of the new approach, however, insist math has a role to play in “highlighting and ultimately addressing social injustice.” They include a teacher who integrated hip hop beats and dancing into her lessons, winning her a Teacher of the Year finalist recognition and a promotion.
