"Bring Algebra Back" Proposition on San Francisco's Ballot

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2 MIN READ - A Peoples Republic of San Francisco March ballot update from the Cautious Optimism Correspondent for Left Coast Affairs and Other Inexplicable Phenomena.

The Left Coast Correspondent received this flyer in the mail for San Francisco Proposition G. It’s no coincidence the largest sponsor is Asian and that it reads in both English and Chinese.

A decade ago the progressive San Francisco Board of Education decided to do away with 8th grade algebra. It seems the problem was not enough black and Hispanic students were passing, so better to force everyone to wait until 9th grade in the hopes of raising passing rates for the bottom students.

Of course pushing algebra back a year meant 12th grade calculus got pushed to… well, out of the curriculum, which can be a real problem for higher performing students trying to get accepted by the nation’s better universities. But who cares about them? San Francisco politicians were trying to make everyone more equal.

After outcries from some parents the board decided to generously allow students to take 12th grade calculus, but in order to do so they would have to “double up,” still taking algebra in the 9th grade while simultaneously cramming in geometry the very same year—a course that’s supposed to follow one year later, followed by algebra II, then trigonometry/pre-calculus.

Parents who cared about their kids’ education were forced to make them take two years worth of math in a single year to have any chance of getting into a good college, particularly in science or engineering programs.

Of course the kids got very stressed out taking both math courses at the same time, but many dedicated parents hired private tutors to make the unnaturally burdensome agenda easier.

The parents who could afford tutors that is.

As for the poorer minority parents with talented and motivated kids of their own, too bad. They didn’t have the money so their kids were shackled with another handicap.

Which is how the progressive “drag everyone down to the same level” policies have repeatedly backfired over the years. Under the new system, designed to coddle the poorest performing students to allegedly help black and Hispanic kids, San Francisco progressives widened the divide between white/Asian and other minorities’ achievement scores by aligning their chances of getting ahead with the size of their parents’ bank accounts.

But why worry? Progressive school board members and SF politicians make huge $$$, so their kids go to private schools where 8th grade algebra has been legal all along. Or for those whose kids actually go to public schools they can afford to hire tutors.

Obviously this whole debacle has had the Asian parents up in arms for years since they care about their kids’ math and science performance more than any other demographic—hence the heavily Asian sponsors of this March 5th proposition to “bring algebra back.”

18 months ago Asians organized to oust San Francisco’s left-wing District Attorney, and former pro bono counsel for Hugo Chavez’s socialist government, Chesa Boudin because all the criminals he was releasing disproportionately preyed on Asians.

When if ever Asian voters in blue cities and blue states will figure out that the Democratic Party and left-progressives are not their friends is beyond the Left Coast Correspondent’s predictive powers. It seems the unremitting propaganda of “Republicans are racist against Asians” keeps them in fear... i.e. in line and reliably voting Democrat year after year.