'New Math' rears its ugly head:

According to benchmarks for middle school education, the top objective for the district's math teachers is to teach "respect for human differences." The objective is for students to "live out the system-wide core value of 'respect for human differences' by demonstrating anti-racist/anti-bias behaviors."

Priority No. 2 is where the basics come in, which is "problem solving and representation — students will build new mathematical knowledge as they use a variety of techniques to investigate and represent solutions to problems."

There is no racial component in Mathematics. Those issues can and should be addressed in Social Studies and History. They can be indirectly referenced in Language Arts, usually through literature. There are ample opportunities to address the issues of respect and diversity; spending a portion of math class to reiterate the topic yet another time is undermining the education of these children.

It is not only educational malpractice (a phrase coined by education consultant Peter Murphy), I also believe that it is discriminatory. This article points out that a large number of students from this school district attend a private after-school math institution. This after-school math program is not able to accommodate all the students trying to enroll.

Private school costs money, which limits those students who are receive an adequate education in math to those whose parents can afford to supplement it. At the very least, it is socio-economic discrimination, which often boils down to racial discrimination.

It is very sad that those charged with defining policy are unable to come up with the right answer. Their 'Arithmetic Diversity' subtracts from learning and adds up to discrimination.