Penna Dexter

Education officials in the state of Virginia are taking a serious look at changing the way mathematics is taught. According to the Virginia Mercury, standardized test scores show that “Black, Hispanic, and low-income students have lower pass rates than White and Asian students.” There’s a proposed initiative to lower the standards so struggling students can succeed. Opponents of the changes argue that the state should take steps to improve instruction for everyone. Virginia’s consideration of this initiative is an example of the kind of thinking behind America’s decline in essential subjects. A new buzzword in American institutions — including in education — is equity. Not equality, which requires equal treatment, equal input, equal opportunity. Equity, instead, requires equal outcomes. Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas compares Virginia’s math restructuring proposal to current attempts to remedy “income inequality.” He points out that “there are those who believe ‘equity’ means everyone should make the same and in the case of math, be equally stupid.” The obvious right course is to encourage students who show aptitude in math and help those who don’t. “Promoting equal outcomes in math and other subjects, he writes, “can only advance mediocrity, of which we have had quite enough.” The nation tried imposing Outcome Based Education back in the ‘90s. Parents pushed back. Cal Thomas warns that dumbing down key subjects will only encourage the exodus from public schools that’s taking place due to pandemic lockdowns. Paul Peterson, who directs the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard, says, “over a third of students still aren’t going to a classroom every day.” In many urban districts, young children attend class only two days a week. The loss of learning has been devastating for low-income minority kids. Parents are fed up. In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Dr. Peterson describes several states’ recent expansions in school choice programs, concluding that “the choice bandwagon has begun to roll.” School choice brings the equal opportunity students need.