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North Carolina Father Sued by Math Company for Criticizing Their Curriculum

posted by Fnord666 on Saturday August 10 2019, @01:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the death-by-litigation dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

A parent whose child goes to a high school in the Wake County Public School System has been sued after criticizing the math curriculum used in the district.

Utah-based "Mathematics Vision Project" or "MVP," filed a lawsuit against Blain Dillard, whose son attends Green Hope High in Cary.

Dillard has been vocal about his opposition to the MVP curriculum, which is student-driven and focuses on group work, posting on his website, blog and social media.

The lawsuit obtained by ABC11 said, "In or around March 2019, Dillard commenced a crusade against MVP, claiming that MVP is ineffective and has harmed many students."

It alleges that some of Dillard's statements were false and defamatory and harmed the company financially.

https://abc11.com/education/wake-schools-parent-sued-after-criticizing-math-curriculum/5430840/

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by hemocyanin on Saturday August 10 2019, @02:11PM (2 children)

    by hemocyanin (186) on Saturday August 10 2019, @02:11PM (#878239) Journal

    Interestingly, one of the papers inspiring MVP is entitled: "Mathematics Education Through the Lens of Social Justice: Acknowledgment, Actions, and Accountability" https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.todos-math.org%2Fassets%2Fdocs2016%2F2016Enews%2F3.pospaper16_wtodos_8pp.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHUpT3p47iYJOItnh15kJkp9azDMg [google.com]

    Some excerpts (note the term "equity" frequently appears (think Harrison Bergeron and equity of outcome, rather than equality)) from a paper on why advanced math course should be eliminated:

    Equally important, a social justice stance interrogates and challenges the roles power, privilege, and oppression play in the current unjust system of mathematics education—and in society as a whole.
    ...
    A social justice priority in mathematics education is to openly challenge deficit thinking and the institutional tools and practices that perpetuate static views about children and their mathematics competencies. Eliminating the deficit discourse by focusing on learning rather than labels is a key step toward a more just and equitable mathematics education.
    ...
    A social justice approach to mathematics education assumes students bring knowledge and experiences from their homes and communities that can be leveraged as resources for mathematics teaching and learning
    ...
    A social justice approach works to transform mathematics from a gatekeeper to a gateway, democratizing participation and maximizing education advancement that equitably benefits all children rather than a select few.
    ...
    the demographic profile of mathematics teaching, and by extension its leadership, is predominantly white ... A social justice approach to mathematics education recognizes this linkage and advocates for the vital inclusion of diverse instructional voices, knowledge, and skills needed to transform mathematics education systems into a more holistic, just and equitable experience for our nation’s youth.
    ...
    A social justice commitment to mathematics education highlights mathematics as a dynamic, political, historical, relational, and cultural subject (Gutiérrez, 2013a). Identity and power play central roles in this engagement.
    ...
    Mathematics teachers and leaders must acknowledge that the current mathematics education system is unjust and grounded in a legacy of institutional discrimination based on race, ethnicity, class, and gender.
    ...
    Mathematics teachers and leaders must self-reflect on privileges ...
    ...
    Boards will conduct annual audits on implementation progress of social justice actions items ...

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Saturday August 10 2019, @03:46PM

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Saturday August 10 2019, @03:46PM (#878293) Journal

    Well, seems that MVP is conscious of Social Justice. Is it that they're paying lip service? The impression I have is that this big company is part of the for-profit education industry, and they are most unjustly trying one of that industry's usual tactics to silence criticism. Charter schools and their allies have earned a bad reputation.

    You sure found an example of messed up math education, in which just doing addition (of 8+6) was the "wrong" approach. Pearson, huh? Yet another for-profit educational publisher that must be feeling desperate in the face of Open textbooks.

    The article does not give anything specific about the math. Without that, can't judge the validity of the parent's complaints. Regardless of all else, the lawsuit alone strikes me as a very bad idea. Seeing that MVP was stupid enough to try that, strongly suggests their math education program likely has a similar lack of intelligence. Suing is a desperation move. Their whole business model might be nothing more than scamming schools out of money, in exchange for suspect math curriculum material that at best relies upon long debunked education methods. New Math comes to mind.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @04:43PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @04:43PM (#878326)

    any parent who send their kids to public "schools", and can afford not to, is a fucking idiot.