How Can Five People Cross the River In A Three-Person Boat if Person A Refuses To Sit Next To A Black Person And Person C Refuses To Sit With A Latino Person?

Tim Cavanaugh | February 8, 2005

Reader Bonnie Pettis alerts us to this Fox News story about curriculum guidelines in the Newton, Mass. public school system. Benchmarks issued in 1999 to encourage "Respect for Human Differences" promote "Newton's commitment to active anti-racist education" through various suggested activities:

Students will: Consistently analyze their experiences and the curriculum for bias and discrimination; Take effective anti-bias action when bias or discrimination is identified; Work with people of different backgrounds and tell how the experience affected them; Demonstrate how their membership in different groups has advantages and disadvantages that affect how they see the world and the way they are perceived by others...

Part of the new Social Studies program? A more enlightened Civics curriculum? No, these are benchmarks for Newton's math classes.

The guidelines have shown striking results. According to a local columnist who published the guidelines, Newton's math test results have declined steadily over the past three years, to the point where 32 percent of sixth-graders are now getting D-plus scores or worse (or, in non-prejudicial language, 68 percent of the students are passing).

Here's a math question I never figured out in public school: How come a D is considered a flunking grade? What's the purpose of F if D has all the same effects as a failure?