VA Dept. of Education Debunks Distortions About Virginia Mathematics Pathways Initiative: Advanced Courses Still “Very Much a Part”; “Students would still be able to accelerate through the content based on their ability and achievement”

If the right wing is good at one thing – and it certainly isn’t coming up with anything positive to actually move the state or country forward! – it’s creating false memes, usually playing off of ignorance, anger, fear, etc., then bouncing those false memes around their media/social media echo chambers so that most people inside their “bubble” actually believe the false memes. Sometimes, the right wingers’ lies and nonsense even seeps out into mainstream discourse, which of course is very unfortunate, but also illustrates why it’s important to correct the lies and nonsense aggressively.

Recently, we’ve had a prime example of this here in Virginia, with a bizarre/false right-wing meme about how Virginia supposedly having a “crazy plan to hold back math geniuses” (WTF?), with leading VA GOP gubernatorial candidates spreading the nonsense around. For some actual, ya know, *facts*, see below from the Virginia Department of Education, which points out that:

• “Virginia Mathematics Pathways Initiative (VMPI) is a proposal to align math curriculum better to the essential knowledge and skills students need to succeed in the 21st century economy.”
• “Advanced courses are still very much a part of that.”
• “Students would still be able to accelerate through the content based on their ability and achievement.”
• “The proposal also allows students to better tailor their high school math coursework to support their post-secondary goals and prepare them with the skills they need to succeed.”
• “The goal is to modernize and update Virginia’s math standards, a process mandated by law every seven years, which will still be rigorous but comprehensive in nature.”
• “This is something that is in the conceptual phase of an initial discussion; both decisions and implementation are still a few years away.”
• “Local schools maintain flexibility to create courses aligned to state standards to meet the needs of all students, who can advance through the curriculum based on their individual learning needs. Schools can also offer advanced sections and acceleration through the courses.“

In short, basically everything the right wing is saying on this subject is either flat-out false or wildly distorted/exaggerated. Sadly, that’s typical of the right wing these days, but still, it’s really bad. Anyway, as always, don’t listen to right-wing media or politicians, but instead get the actual facts and make up your own mind.