Differential Equation

 I suppose it makes sense that a Republican dominated state like Florida would reject a math textbook. Or fifty-four of them. Which reminds me of a math problem: If a state rejects fifty-four of one hundred thirty-two math textbooks, what percentage would that be? If you picked forty-one percent as your answer, give yourself a gold star. If you answered, "most of them," you wouldn't be technically right but if you said "more than probably should have been," then we can move on.

As a teacher I have learned to flinch in anticipation of any child on my roll named "Angel," and having a governor named "DeSantis" turns out to be the proof of this rule for Florida. This man is no saint. A news release from Governor Ron's office stated some of the reasons for rejecting textbooks. These included references to critical race theory, “inclusions of Common Core, and the unsolicited addition of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in mathematics.” That last bit rings a little for me. The suggestion that emotions play no part in mathematics is just plain wrong, since I don't tend to go a day without hearing a student tell me how much they hate math. 

Or love it. 

As for the rest of it, I know how hard math can be for some. For example, if a simple majority is needed to confirm a Justice to the Supreme Court, how many votes would you need out of a hundred to put this candidate on the bench? "More than half" would be an acceptable answer, but if you knew that three Republicans helped put the number of yeas up past fifty, you get extra credit. Now here's where the SEL portion comes in: How many Republican Senators walked out of the chamber after the vote was taken and this historic moment was being applauded by (most) everyone else? If you answered "the Republicans minus three," you're well on your way to understanding how this "new math" works.

Finally, the most obvious example of Republican struggles with math comes from a problem like this: Which number is larger - 81,282,916 or 74,223,369? You would be surprised how many pick 74,223,369. These numbers represent the popular vote totals for Joe Biden and Donald Trump. I was going to say something here about "respectively," but I don't believe that "respect" has anything to do with it. As a bonus, I might ask how many electoral votes it takes to certify a new President of the United States. If you knew that number was 270, and that Joe Biden was awarded 302, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. Or maybe math hews a little too close to reality for some. It really shouldn't take two years to solve a problem this simple. 

I guess some people just hate math. And reality.