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Re: equity & diversity
Posted:
Jun 4, 1995 9:47 PM
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Hello to all ---
The idea of equity and diversity was brought home to me this past year.
This year, I taught our school's first AP Calculus class. The ten students
involved had been put in an accelerated program since 7th grade.
During the previous year, one young lady came to me saying she didn't think
she could handle calculus. I hadn't had her in my classes since her
freshman geometry class, but I remembered her as being very bright and hard
working. I encouraged her to sign up for calculus, which she did.
During the first semester things went very well. She even aced the first
few tests. But she kept telling me that this stuf was too difficult for
her.
Even tho I kept encouraging her, she dropped the class at the semester. :(
The class was made up of 4 girls and 6 guys. Even tho she was clearly one
of the top three in the class, she kept deferring to the guys during class
discussions.
What had been done to this bright student over her school carreer? By her
senior year, was it too late to make a difference? Could I have done more?
These are the questions I ask.
>>The NCTM is an
>>excellent example of this in that every publication they put out is brim full
>>of statements about "equity" and "diversity", two mantras of the educational
>> Left.
>>
>>Dan
>
>
>I'm a girl. My kid is LD. The system I grew up in threw me on the
>science/math/technology junkheap (yeah I was in honors classes but the real
>message - which I swallowed completely - was "don't you dare think of this
>as a career choice"; my road to becoming a mathematician was quite
>circuitous, believe me), and threw kids like my kid on the total junkheap.
>
>Equity and diversity aren't issues of politics (although they can be
>clumsily dealt with that way) but simple human decency and the practical
>recognition that when you throw a kid on the junkheap s/he grows up to act
>like junk.
>
>
> ====================================
> Judy Roitman, Mathematics Department
> Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66049
> roitman@math.ukans.edu
> =====================================
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Mark Priniski Pioneering Partner '93
Rib Lake High School priniski@cedar.cic.net
Rib Lake, WI 54470
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