Equitable Mediocrity

A major focus of the education system in the United States over the last several decades has been to eliminate the achievement gap between Black and Hispanic students compared to their
Asian and White peers and students from higher income compared to lower income households.

However, despite spending billions and billions of dollars in an attempt to shrink the achievement gap, there has been almost no change in the gap over the last 50 years.

Source: https://www.policyed.org/intellections/closing-achievement-gap-education/video

It seems that Leftists have now decided the best way to solve the inequity is to quit working to raise the educational achievement of those at the bottom but to bring down the high achievers.

I wrote about this earlier this year as Seattle public schools shut down their gifted and talented program because it was oversaturated with Whites and Asians.

It was considered not inclusive and equitable enough.

In order to qualify for the GATE program a student had to be in the top 2% on standardized testing exams.

The gifted and talented program has been replaced in favor of a more “inclusive, equitable and culturally sensitive” program.

Of course, the Seattle schools were also at the forefront of the "Math Education is Racist" movement a few years ago.

Source: https://www.hoover.org/research/seattle-schools-propose-teach-math-education-racist-will-california-be-far-behindseattle

According to Seattle educators, math instruction in the United States is an example of “Western Math,” which apparently is the appropriation of mathematical knowledge by Western cultures. While everyone agrees that two plus two is four, three times three is nine, and that there are three hundred and sixty degrees in a circle, Western Math critics worry about more nuanced issues, such as why we teach kids Western counting and not, for example, how the Aborigines count.

Students will be taught how “Western Math” is used as a tool of power and oppression, and that it disenfranchises people and communities of color. They will be taught that “Western Math” limits economic opportunities for people of color. They will be taught that mathematics knowledge has been withheld from people of color. 

However, I am trying to figure out if "Western Math" disenfranchises people and communities of color why is it that those of Chinese, Asian and Indian ancestry dominate almost all math competitions in the United States and the world?

They are certainly not products of Western culture.

Here is the United States team that participated in the 2025 International Mathematical Olympiad this past summer that finished 2nd to China in the competition.

South Korea was 3rd, Japan was 4th and India was 7th.

I am struggling to see the Western culture in these students of color on the U.S. team.

It is also difficult to see how that Western culture withheld mathematics knowledge to these people of color.

Source: https://maa.org/news/usa-earns-second-place-at-66th-internationalmathematical-olympiad/

Democrat New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mandami is on record stating that he wants to phase out the Gifted and Talented program in the city's elementary schools. He believes that singling out some students and not others is unfair and inequitable.

Source: https://nypost.com/2018/06/06/de-blasios-plan-to-ditch-admission-test-for-top-high-schools-wins-approval/

What else would you expect from someone who proudly states he is a "Democratic Socialist".

This follows the policy of former Mayor Bill DeBlasio who did away with using standardized testing for admission to the city's most prestigious high schools because too many Whites and Asians were scoring high scores and Blacks and Hispanics were not.

Blacks and Hispanics make up 70% of New York City's population but were only getting 10% of the spots in the city's elite high schools due to their scores on the competitive standardized tests to determine merit.

The rules were changed to make sure the Blacks and Hispanics received 50% of the admission offers.

In Chicago, it is more of the same.

As well as in California.

We have seen 50 years of abject failure by the education system to do anything meaningful about closing the achievement gap despite billions and billions of dollars being spent.

Liberals have apparently decided that it is too hard to raise those at the bottom up.

Therefore, let's just push those at the top down.

The end result will be equitable mediocrity in the best case. 

In reality, it will probably still be viewed as INEQUITABLE and UNFAIR.

You would think that there would be not be any issue more important for the President of the American Federation of Teachers than to be focused on closing that gap.

Instead, Randi Weingarten, the head of the teachers' union for the last two decades has just released this book.

Is it any wonder we are where we are?