Ghetto Math

Not even mathematics is safe from the political predations of Afrocentrism, as Dispatches from the Hogtown Front reports:

A math unit on racial profiling is part of a new black-focused curriculum expected to be tested by Canada's largest school board this fall.

The new "Africentric" curriculum is designed to boost pride and test scores among black students. The program, which would include 10 social-studies units, likely will be launched in November in grades 6, 7 and 8 at Brookview Middle School, on Jane St. north of Finch Ave. W.

Any teacher in the city would be free to use the units — roughly two weeks of lessons on a given topic — and they are to be taught to all children in a class, not just black students.

The underlying assumption is patronizing towards black students: it assumes they can't be taught properly unless everything is somehow made a matter of race, and further, that they are unable or uninterested in learning anything that isn't about their race.

I have no problem with black students studying their people's history and culture; indeed, they should be encouraged to do so. But they should not be force-fed political propaganda at the same time.

ADDENDUM: We've all seen this math proficiency exam circulating for decades. But it seems to be in the same spirit as the proposed Afrocentric math course.

ADDENDUM TO THE ADDENDUM: Run this story through Gizoogle and it will capture its essence completely.