Algebra in Middle Schools? It's a No-Brainer!
Vote YES on Prop. G
In time for Tuesday's elections, this is a guest piece written by Sane friend and collaborator, Rob MyJob, who exists in the Substack universe as Righteous Music Junkie. Take it away, RMJ…
Clearly standards in this country have plummeted, but what could possibly be bad about 12-year-olds learning Algebra?
Exactly! Yet, incredibly, there are folks who have been standing in the way of allowing smart San Francisco public school middle-schoolers to advance to Algebra for at least a decade, in the name of “equity.” I can attest to this, having once-upon-a-time been a player in the fight to restore 8th-grade Algebra.
Finally, in 2024, it appears sanity on this issue is ascendant. This election year’s Proposition G, which deserves your resounding “YES” vote on March 5, reads simply:
“It shall be the official policy of the City and County of San Francisco to urge the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to offer Algebra 1 to students by the eighth grade.”
Hallelujah!
There is further verbiage about it also being the official policy of the City and County of San Francisco to support SFUSD in such good things as “developing a coherent math curriculum,” which sounds like something they maybe should have developed, say, 50 years ago?
Overall, Prop G is a solid proposition, and though IT IS NOT BINDING on anyone, it is the first public referendum on this festering topic. If Prop G passes by a lot, as I believe it will, it will send a strong message that, yes, parents want more opportunities for their children, and SFUSD will hopefully act accordingly.
So, how did we get here? The old best intentions, of course. We’re not talking “Math is Racist” loonies here: policies isolating young students from advanced math have been promulgated by highly educated and respectable people who honestly believe that by holding certain students back, we achieve a happier, more equitable society as everyone is harmonized down to the same level. (Is that Eau de Mao you’re wearing, dear?)
Of course, there are many others behind these policies who endorse them desperate to cover up the obvious failure of SFUSD’s early math education, or just to keep their jobs.
Beginning in the 2010s, as a parent of two children in the SFUSD schools, which my wife and I were generally satisfied with, I watched as the advent of Common Core heralded a new “equity”-centered approach to everything, which manifested on the ground as the district gradually taking away certain opportunities for the more advanced students.
First it was GATE, the program for students identified as “Gifted and Talented.” The district actually used to identify certain students as gifted in elementary school, and send out letters to parents saying “Congratulations! Going forward your child will have certain opportunities to pursue advanced study, go on trips,” etc. But none of this materialized, because at some point it no longer passed the latest Board of Ed’s equity test, so GATE was trashed.
Then it was the Honors track. Yes, there used to be an Honors track at some middle schools where the smarter students, who were capable of doing advanced work, were in a cohort with other smarter students doing advanced work. It was a very successful program. The year my daughter’s 8th-grade cohort graduated, over 75% of them went on to Lowell High School, which, despite recent Board of Ed meddling, is still the best and most rigorous high school in San Francisco, and the hardest to get into.
Funny thing about the Honors track: the same year that then-Superintendent Richard Carranza decimated Honors, his own daughter was on — and benefiting from — the Honors track, which I know because she was in my daughter’s class. This ignoramus later went on to also wreck the schools in Houston and New York City.
Finally, they came for 8th-grade Algebra. Right around this time, my youngest daughter was in middle school, and although she made it clear that SHE didn’t want to take Algebra in 8th grade, I knew there were many students who did.
There were many students who HAD TO take 8th-grade Algebra, if they wanted to be on track to complete Calculus by high school. Completing Calculus by high school is required in order to be at all competitive for coveted STEM (Science Tech Engineering Math) spots at the best universities. Many high school parents have had to shell out for expensive private math classes so their children could stay competitive. Some students were forced to take TWO math classes per semester just to keep up with their peers in adjacent counties.
In 2015, I became active in the fight to save the Personal Belief Exemption, which a sizable minority of parents in California had used to protect their children from vaccination. The infamous Disneyland measles scare turbo-tracked SB 277, which we fought mightily but failed to stop. SFUSD board commissioners ignored our publicly commented concerns about this legislation, and in fact gratuitously voted to support it.
That’s when I wrote the song Too Much Freedom:
They brought it to us
We’ll bring it to them!
I’ve always taught my daughters that THE BEST DEFENSE IS AN OFFENSE. A group of us formed SF FREE – San Franciscans For Real Education Equity and for a few months spoke regularly at the board, educating other parents about the issues and causing some scenes, but ultimately failing to change anything.
Longtime SF Board of Ed commissioner Rachel Norton, special ed maven, mom of TWO autistic daughters, had a funny habit of getting up from her chair on the dais and literally running out of the meeting room if anyone at the mic mentioned vaccines and autism in the same sentence. I witnessed/caused her to do this twice.
The vax issue and the gradual degradation in opportunities compelled me to run for office, for one of four open seats on the nine-member SF Board of Education in 2016. Front and center in my campaign was the restoration of 8th-grade Algebra, which earned me several endorsements, including that of the SF Chinese American Democratic Club.
My campaign slogan was “Equity and Excellence for All!” I even came up with a pledge, which upon recitation always received raucous applause and at least one standing ovation:
“I pledge allegiance to the families
Of the Unified School District of San Francisco
And to the public schools which they demand
One City
Studying Hard
Irrepressible
With Equity and Excellence for All!”
Sadly, I came to see that “equity” as applied by this school district was not about achieving “fairness for ALL,” but was instead being cynically used to cover up failures for many. I said, and still say, we can have both EQUITY and EXCELLENCE, by giving everyone the early math support they need, eventually elevating all to the level of EXCELLENCE.
Unlike the pop pathologists who claim advanced or Honors classes make slower students “feel bad,” the data shows the opposite: struggling students are generally inspired by their advanced peers, leading to overall improvement in scores and grades, i.e. EXCELLENCE.
Whether equity could ever be applied in a way that is fair to all remains to be seen. Employing “equity” and all the other buzzwords of the day did not propel me to victory, as my 25,000+ hard-earned votes were not enough to secure a position on the Board, though I definitely influenced the dialogue around math that year.
What’s important to know is that restoring Algebra, like the vax issue, is not a left-right, Democrat-Republican thing, though some would frame it that way. Anyone who is a parent will tell you it is all about creating opportunities for their children. Period. And that is why it is going to win big.
When I ran for school board, the foul-mouthed League of Pissed-off Voters opted not to endorse me, a progressive Berniecrat, endorsed by the Berniecrats, because they happened to notice that Scott Wiener, to his rare credit, also supported 8th-grade Algebra, thus I must somehow be aligned with Wiener, who seemed to be Enemy Number One around there. That’s how stupid it gets.
Well, it took a decade for them to come around, but today ten of eleven San Francisco Supervisors agree with this:
“The school board moved algebra to high school, hoping it would make math outcomes more equitable. But the well-intended policy had the opposite effect. It held back the kids who love math without providing additional help to the kids who were falling behind... Prop G calls for ending the school district’s failed algebra experiment.”
Not a moment too soon.
Vote YES on Prop G! Restore 8th-grade Algebra!
Equality and Excellence for ALL!
 | A guest post by
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Nice pledge. Creative
Omg. Glad we left! Good on you for taking on the madness. And winning!