Social Justice Ideology in Education
Conservatives have often noted the leftist bias in education. For example, California Democrats pushed for a mandatory ethnic studies course in high school. This course would mention racial oppression, and make white students examine their ‘privilege’. It also suggests that for an engagement project, students should promote voting rights for undocumented immigrants.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill making schools teach LGBTQ contributions to society. Lawmakers said they supported this bill because they wanted to be inclusive and promote acceptance of those with different sexual preferences. However, it is pretty clear that these politicians wanted to teach students history from a social justice perspective. Like Marxism, the social justice ideology divides society between the oppressed and the oppressors. However, the oppressed are now minority groups and the oppressors are straight white males. Recently, an education committee in Seattle proposed injecting social justice views into K-12 math courses.
Seattle Schools Might Combine Math and ‘Ethnic Studies’
The social justice worldview has not significantly affected math and science. The idea that people would make math politically biased seems absurd. Now, the Seattle Public Schools’ Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee is proposing to do just that. It is proposing a “Math Ethnic Studies Framework”. This framework includes ideas that white people use math to oppress minorities and that minorities become ‘liberated’ through math. Aside from promoting the oppression narrative, Math Ethnic Studies would challenge reason and logic as well. A question in the proposal is: “Who gets to say if an answer is right?” If we cannot all agree on basic mathematical equations, our society will not be able to progress anywhere. Activists who support the proposal are much more interested in students adopting the social justice worldview than becoming proficient in math.
Schools Should Teach Facts and Skills, Not Indoctrinate
The fact that social justice could enter math shows that radicals in our country will find any avenue to indoctrinate children. Subjects like math should teach kids objective truths, and prepare them for the working world. An ethnic studies math program would only prepare students to be social justice activists. Our education system is hurting our young people. Students will only learn the same social justice ideas without figuring out any real solutions to improve society. Also, the social justice ideology is a very bleak worldview. Young people in America will be discouraged if they keep hearing that they are perpetual victims and society is out to get them.
Written by Steven Koskulitz and published by Western Free Press ~ October 7, 2019