Oregon Dept. of Education Promotes “Antiracist Math” Program, Warns of White Supremacy Inherent in Math Classes ⋆ Elizabeth Johnston

Because apparently we can’t find instances of legitimate racism to root out and we’re just scraping the bottom of the barrel, the Oregon Department of Education is here to remind you that white supremacy is inherent in—wait for it—math class.

According to Disrn, Oregon’s Department of Education sent out an online bulletin last week to the state’s math educators offering resources to celebrate Black History Month. In addition to profiling prominent Black mathematicians, the newsletter promoted resources by Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction for educators “looking for a deeper dive into equity work.”

“This tool provides teachers an opportunity to examine their actions, beliefs, and values around teaching mathematics,” reads the “Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction” guide by Pathway.

“White supremacy culture infiltrates math classrooms in everyday teacher actions,” the guide declares. “Coupled with the beliefs that underlie these actions, they perpetuate educational harm on Black, Latinx, and multilingual students, denying them full access to the world of mathematics.”

Some evidence of “white supremacy culture” that the guide claims shows up in the classroom includes:

• The focus is on getting the “right” answer.
• Independent practice is valued over teamwork or collaboration.
• “Real-world math” is valued over math in the real world.
• Students are tracked (into courses/pathways and within the classroom).
• Participation structures reinforce dominant ways of being.

“Often the emphasis is placed on learning math in the ‘real world,’ as if our classrooms are not a part of the real world,” the guide states. “This reinforces notions of either/or thinking because math is only seen as useful when it is in a particular context. However, this can result in using mathematics to uphold capitalist and imperialist ways of being and understandings of the world.”

“The concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false, and teaching it is even much less so,” the course adds. “Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict.”

Folks, I fear that the violent unrest and racial strife that plagued American cities last year are not over—they were merely the birth pangs of a movement that will grow to grip our entire society, putting it forever in fear of anything arbitrarily deemed “racist” or “white supremacist.”

Children of the Living God must stand against actual racism wherever it appears, especially within the church, which we have proudly done in the past and will continue to do.

But our God is the author of all truth, and we must not submit to the culture’s lie that we are unequal, that any of us is born racist, and that we must repent for evils we have not committed.

I warn you, saints, keep your children away from the schools that are swallowing this lie and teaching it as gospel.

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