zlacker

>>lxm+(OP)
I’m sure every generation feels like the next is going to turn the world to hell… but what the hell? I find it absolutely bonkers that gifted classes, math, homework and objective performance assessments are suddenly under fire as instruments perpetuating inequality. Does our education system leave much to be desired? Absolutely! Let’s pay teachers more and improve access to quality education for all students, not cognitively handicap the next generation.

>>throwa+2o
Most of what you're saying seems reasonable... but then I see a statistic like this:

"Black Americans receive about 7 percent of the doctoral degrees awarded each year across all disciplines, but they have received just 1 percent of those granted over the last decade in mathematics."

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/us/edray-goins-black-math...

And this is the current production! You don't want to see the statistics regarding the number of African American faculty members in mathematics!

So what else is our current system perpetuating besides inequality? What exactly are we "weeding out" in calculus? Or college algebra?

We don't let kids trust themselves intellectually in the classroom.

>>dls201+Yv
There is a cult around intelligence we really need move beyond, given that it is predominately an inherited trait, speaking no more or less to any individuals self-worth.

Proportional representation of various (tribal, ethnic, gender, religious, racial) groups would actually be the anomaly in nature, not what the parent is identifying as an issue.

It is always math and but never nursing. That alone may shed a little light on our biases.

>>jiscar+bF
"It is always math" because math is the language of the 21st century. People who have mastery of mathematics will be as influential as the people who had mastery of language in the 20th century.

> There is a cult around intelligence we really need move beyond, given that it is predominately an inherited trait

Just because it's inherited doesn't mean we need to move beyond it. It's the most important predictor of life outcome and should be screened for and nurtured from the moment we find above-average individuals, because they are rare. What we need "move beyond" is allowing people with resources to advantage to their thoroughly average children.