Quick Takes – The New Education: Teacher Illiteracy; Picketer Slogans; Islamophobic Math

     Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.

     The focus this time: The future is in the… worst of hands.

     First, a little mood music:

     Carrying on…

     At a very minimum, one would expect that regardless of a teachers ability to teach, they at least know the subject matter being taught, right?

     Well…

“[New York] State education officials plan to scrap a literacy exam given to prospective teachers and allow certification for some applicants who fail a performance assessment test — moves that critics warned will weaken the pool of candidates.

“The state Board of Regents will likely vote early next week on whether to ax the Academic Literacy Skills Test, one of four exams that teacher wannabes have to pass for certification”

     But what will these teacher teach?

     Why, how attacks on the institutional learning facilities are all sexist and stuff…

“Half the teaching staff at one Philadelphia high school and three-quarters at a city elementary school are skipping work today in honor of ‘A Day Without a Woman.'”

“…

“‘”We want to make the point that attacks on public schools are very specifically attacks on women, gendered attacks on what is historically a female profession”‘”

     So, readin’ and ‘writin’ slogans are out… at least we have the objectively acceptable category of ‘rithmatic and hither mathematics, right?

     LOL, Math is also oppressive!

“The chancellor of the California Community Colleges system says intermediate algebra should no longer be required to earn an associate degree — unless students are in the fields of science, technology, engineering or math.

“Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley, who heads the nation’s largest community college system of 114 campuses, told The Times that intermediate algebra is seen as a major barrier for students of color, preventing too many from completing degrees. About three-fourths of those who transfer to four-year universities are non-STEM majors, he said, who should be able to demonstrate quantitative reasoning skills by taking statistics or other math courses more applicable to their fields.

“‘College-level algebra is probably the greatest barrier for students — particularly first-generation students, students of color — obtaining a credential,’ he said. ‘If we know we’re disadvantaging large swaths of students who we need in the workforce, we have to question why. And is algebra really the only means we have to determine whether a student is going to be successful in their life?

“‘I think there’s a growing body of evidence and advocates that say “no” — that there are more relevant, just as rigorous, math pathways that we feel students should have the ability to take,’ he said.”

     Don’t these oh-so-woke educators realize that opposing Algebra, a term derives from Arabic is like so totes Islamophobic and racist and stuff?

     TTFN.

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