A good education is a ticket to a good life, and high-quality mathematics instruction is growing rapidly in importance. However, an increasingly loud line of rhetoric threatens to weaken our public schools’ standards for high-quality mathematics programs. For example, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has supported a math curriculum taking the position that white supremacy is furthered by objectivity in mathematics. Will this divisive and demoralizing new approach offer any improvements to children’s learning?

In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Ben Chavis, the former principal of the American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland, California. There, he transformed a school on the brink of closure into one of the top schools in the country. Ben credits this incredible turnaround to an undying focus on what really matters: academic rigor. He confronts the ideas and policies that may be detracting from the quality of learning in our nation’s schools and offers an alternate view on how we can revitalize math education in the US.

Resources:

Math Camp in a Barn: Intensive Instruction, No-Nonsense Discipline | Naomi Schaefer Riley | The Wall Street Journal

Show notes:

02:28 | How can white supremacy show up in math classes that are focused on objectivity?

04:38 | Math as a key for upward mobility for students from disadvantaged backgrounds

09:50 | Confronting the idea that objectivity of math is racist, and so are the people teaching it

12:25 | Why the importance of math to professional success is ignored

16:28 | How to diversify schools without a quota system

22:03 | The role that math camps and extracurricular activities play in students’ success

25:47 | How to improve math programs in the public school system