Penna Dexter

Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn writes: “If the land of woke has a capital, it’s San Francisco.” But he writes, the city has now become “ground zero for a revolt by unwoke moms and dads.” An effort to recall three San Francisco school board members is well on its way to getting enough signatures to force the issue onto a ballot. Sixty-nine percent of parents surveyed support the effort. Even in near-socialist San Francisco, regular Americans are standing up to officials who have renamed 44 schools because of the alleged complicity in oppression and racism of leaders they’re named for — among them — Abraham Lincoln and Dianne Feinstein. Plus, parents oppose the lowering of standards and the elevation of race categories over merit. The State Board of Education is getting pushback over a proposed “Equitable Math” framework for K-12 instruction. According to supporting documentation, teachers directly addressing students’ mistakes is somehow “white supremacy.” So is focusing on getting the right answers, teaching math in a “linear fashion,” requiring students to “show their work,” and the idea that math is “purely objective.” The proposed framework rejects the idea of natural gifts and talents and the requisite ability grouping which is seen as “inequitable.” The proposal instead emphasizes teaching math as a tool for “social justice.” The good news is that California STEM leaders oppose this nonsense and have been vocal about it. Hundreds of professionals who work in — or have worked in — science, math, and engineering fields signed an open letter opposing the proposed framework, stating it will “demathematize math.” The letter warns that its implementation would “uproot long-proven, reliable and highly effective math methods and instead try to build a mathless Brave New World on a foundation of unsound ideology.” The California Board of Education has agreed to postpone consideration of the framework until next May. Let’s hope the sane people who still exist in California can hold the line, so this stuff doesn’t spread.