Critical race theory

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Our forefathers have a pretty sullied history, but that was then

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If you live long enough, you can look back and see how cultural memes of the day come and go in your own lifetime. Sometimes I see footage from the 60s and 70s and am reminded how crazy that time period was. Here lately it seems like we are going backwards though.

I'm currently watching a documentary on YouTube called Patient Zero--the myth of the AIDS super spreader, which references the zeitgeist of the seventies. It was a very hopeful time.

My brother died of AIDS and I was his caretaker. There were a number of times when EMS was called and they would enter his apartment with hazmat suits on as there was lots of fear over it back then. Sound familiar?

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Originally Posted by JaneV2.0

I'm currently watching a documentary on YouTube called Patient Zero--the myth of the AIDS super spreader, which references the zeitgeist of the seventies. It was a very hopeful time.

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If this is about the Canadian flight attendant, Gaeten Something, yes—-Randy Shilts’ book blamed him as pretty much patient Zero.

My friend’s sister did her medical residency in St. Louis hospitals at the time this hit decades ago, and because American Airlines was headquartered here, there were many flight attendants. In fact as I think about it, around a quarter of the gay men in our neighborhood were flight attendants before American folded. Anyway —the doctor/sister talked to my friend about the strange new thing they were seeing among young men hospitalized in St. Louis.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

If this is about the Canadian flight attendant, Gaeten Something, yes—-Randy Shilts’ book blamed him as pretty much patient Zero.

My friend’s sister did her mefical residency residency in St. Louis hospitals and the time this hit decades ago, and because American Airlines was headquartered here, they were many flight attendants. In fact as I think about it, around a quarter of the gay men in our neighborhood were flight attendants before American folder. Anyway —the doctor/sister talked to my friend about the strange new thing they were seeing among young men hospitalized in St. Louis.

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Gaetan Dugas. Shilts' book remains one of the best books I've ever read, but he greatly over-estimated Dugas' role in the American spread of AIDS. The documentary does say he single-handedly played a major role in spreading the virus from coast to coast.

Fun fact--I went into Barnes and Noble to buy And the Band Played On when it was literally hot off the press, and the clerk tried to sell me I'm With the Band, the charming tale of the exploits of a rock band groupie. Um, no.

That book by Shilts was fantastic, absolutely riveting.

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Originally Posted by Tybee

That book by Shilts was fantastic, absolutely riveting.

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And the book by Pamela De Barres was pretty good, too! She was With .the Band.

I didn’t even have to look that up, I remembered her name

Every time I find a book I absolutely love, the author drops dead--usually before fifty. So far, I've lost Randy Shilts, Thomas Thompson (Blood and Money), and Michelle NcNamara (I'll Be Gone in the Dark). I'm reluctant to name a new fave...

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Originally Posted by nswef

Mschrisgo- excellent explanation. I remember when (70s and 80s) our reading texts were questioned at a school board meeting. Those objecting had all the exact passages that were offensive on a piece of paper. they had not read the book. One they objected to was "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe"!

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“oh, MY! A WITCH! We cannot have children reading about witches.“
Of course, no context provided, probably nobody objecting had actually Read the book

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Originally Posted by mschrisgo2

“oh, MY! A WITCH! We cannot have children reading about witches.“
Of course, no context provided, probably nobody objecting had actually Read the book

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That book was a hugely influential book when I read it as a child. I think Aslan was my first heroic literary figure.

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Originally Posted by mschrisgo2

“oh, MY! A WITCH! We cannot have children reading about witches.“
Of course, no context provided, probably nobody objecting had actually Read the book

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It seems more likely to me that some few but loud voices may have objected to its Christian worldview even though it was contained in a mythic tale. But we'll probably never know.

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Originally Posted by Alan

I took those to mean that textbooks should remain on topic across all disciplines and ensure that the dominant liberal meme that "CRT is not taught outside of law schools" remains technically correct. Although it does make me question why only math textbooks were flagged.

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Textbooks are evaluated and adopted on a 5 year rotation. This is the year for Math. I believe Social Studies comes next year. That should be entertaining (sarcasm).

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Originally Posted by Alan

It seems more likely to me that some few but loud voices may have objected to its Christian worldview even though it was contained in a mythic tale. But we'll probably never know.

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Alan, that would have required actually reading the book… which is very seldom done by those who seek to ban books.

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Originally Posted by Alan

It seems more likely to me that some few but loud voices may have objected to its Christian worldview even though it was contained in a mythic tale. But we'll probably never know.

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Originally Posted by mschrisgo2

Alan, that would have required actually reading the book… which is very seldom done by those who seek to ban books.

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Ok then, I'll be the one who probably never knows.

As a young teenager coming to grips with the fact that I knew I was gay I well remember the early news reports about AIDS. What a terrifying time to be coming to grips with a sexual orientation that meant risking potential death with any sexual activity. Although I didn't feel this way at the time, I'm ever so grateful now that I wasn't more precocious or confident when I was going through puberty. If I had been there's a very real possibility that I would have died long ago. The few gay friends that I have that are older than me would need extra fingers and toes to count all the friends that they lost to that horrible disease.

I mentioned on the thread I started about SO stepping up to help a former employee as her medical power of attorney that she was estranged from her family. I've since found out why. She had moved here from a small midwest town in the mid-70's. Her baby brother followed a couple of years later. And then ended up being one of the early casualties of AIDS. As he got sick and eventually died their family rejected him, leaving her with the sole responsibility of caring for him. Every year for the rest of her life she walked in the Aids Walk-a-thon to help raise money for the cause and was extremely grateful that SO was able to help her name the San Francisco Aids Foundation as the beneficiary of her 401k while she was still mentally competent to make such a decision.

I've always said that the most emotionally wrenching market research project I've ever done was ethnography research with HIV patients. They ranged in age from my age down to teenagers. I went to their homes and spent time with them, interviewing them about their experiences.

The older ones tended to be really battle-scarred, with survivor guilt. They expected to die, but didn't. One of them talked about how when he got his diagnosis he blew all of his money--went on cruises, lived large, figuring why not? Then he lived and he's now broke. Thankfully due to NYC programs, he lives in a nice apartment in the Village but he was emotionally tired--even then when I interviewed him in the early 2010s.

The younger ones were much more cavalier, but in spite of all the years gone by, and all the knowledge, all the antiretrovirals and other medicines we have, what we still don't have is a non-judgmental society. Even the young ones are stigmatized.

I spoke with everyone from promising college students to jacked-up people in Harlem. Every one of them had so much heart. Every story made it difficult for me to maintain professional demeanor.

One of the lessons I've learned doing market research is that if people--even the medical community-- thinks you are "responsible" for your condition, they dismiss you. So not only do you carry all the grief and fear of having a bad illness, but you may also be shunned.

I really wanted to write a magazine article about the many faces of HIV after that research was over but it would have been difficult getting permissions to do it.

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Originally Posted by catherine

One of the lessons I've learned doing market research is that if people--even the medical community-- thinks you are "responsible" for your condition, they dismiss you. So not only do you carry all the grief and fear of having a bad illness, but you may also be shunned.

I really wanted to write a magazine article about the many faces of HIV after that research was over but it would have been difficult getting permissions to do it.

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Can you write a generalized article about Covid and this phenomenon, because I think it is out there, and HIV has so much to teach us about exactly this.

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Originally Posted by bae

Not what I am doing at all.

I'm simply asking for a pointer to an actual textbook for K-12 math instruction that contains the problematic CRT. There must be one, right? This isn't just some "I have a list" political stunt, surely? None of the news stories or press releases contain any real specifics, there's some noise about that worksheet, and that's about it.

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The Florida Department Of Education seems to have provided a few examples: Instructional Materials (fldoe.org)

Here is an article in the NYT today with 21 examples of the content in question. I think the comments are also interesting. Certainly not straight up liberal progressive opinions, but a diversity of thinking in terms of the place that "softer" values like self-esteem and self-awareness have in math education. Frankly, I could have used a lot more self-esteem when I was struggling with algebra.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/22/u...textbooks.html

Oh noes!!! We can’t have students learning things like empathy. Completely unacceptable! That’ll turn them into woke groomers.

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Originally Posted by catherine

Here is an article in the NYT today with 21 examples of the content in question. I think the comments are also interesting. Certainly not straight up liberal progressive opinions, but a diversity of thinking in terms of the place that "softer" values like self-esteem and self-awareness have in math education. Frankly, I could have used a lot more self-esteem when I was struggling with algebra.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/22/u...textbooks.html

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Aack! I had forgotten how pervasive ed school policies had spread their tentacles into the curriculum. (Ed School Follies appalled me years ago). I don't want a bunch of touchy-feely crap filling the math texts my exorbitant taxes are paying for.

“A math biography is a way of helping kids,” Professor Jones said. “There is a fair amount of evidence that indicates that if you can surface your uncertainty and anxiety about something, it’s easier to grapple with it and manage it.”

Teachers could read the biographies to learn which students need extra support, she added.

Some McGraw Hill pages include social-emotional prompts that have little to do with the math problems, such as this example below from a fifth-grade book. Beneath an ordinary math problem, students are asked, “How can you understand your feelings?” --NYT article

The problem I have with these specific examples, and with nearly every other math textbook I have examined over the past 20 years, has nothing to do with any perceived "wokeness" of the text. Rather, it's that the textbook itself is poor - dreadful layout, overly-busy graphics design, examples poorly chosen (I mean, look at the chart in that example there, it doesn't originate at '0', rather it compresses the first part of the data which poorly conveys the data... Read your Tufte, writers!). Etc.

There's no excuse for designing publications so poorly. (Well, unless your intent is to have lots of shiny busy colorful pages to attract textbook reviewers with no subject-matter knowledge...)

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Originally Posted by bae

Read your Tufte, writers!). Etc.

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Wow! You know Tufte? He has definitely influenced the way I present data in my presentations. I took one of his workshops.

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Originally Posted by bae

The problem I have with these specific examples, and with nearly every other math textbook I have examined over the past 20 years, has nothing to do with any perceived "wokeness" of the text. Rather, it's that the textbook itself is poor - dreadful layout, overly-busy graphics design, examples poorly chosen (I mean, look at the chart in that example there, it doesn't originate at '0', rather it compresses the first part of the data which poorly conveys the data... Read your Tufte, writers!). Etc.

There's no excuse for designing publications so poorly. (Well, unless your intent is to have lots of shiny busy colorful pages to attract textbook reviewers with no subject-matter knowledge...)

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I noticed that, too. Cutesy cartoons and badly-designed pages--most of it unnecessary.
You jogged my memory; Tufte was a fixture in some of my classes.