The “woke agenda“ has ravaged the teaching quality of mathematics subjects in Australia, and the country would be ”much better off” without it, according to one Australian politician.
The comments come following a report by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institutes, which reveals there is a “math crisis” in Australia, with Year 12 math enrolment reaching an all-time low.
But he said the low enrolment in math is also a result of the declining teaching quality caused by the “woke agenda.”
Latham criticised the Teachers Federation in New South Wales for putting out ‘woke’ training videos instructing teachers to be more inclusive of the LGBTQIA community than focusing on how to teach the curriculum.
The politician said that there has also been a new shift from the traditional approach to learning math to project-based learning, such as learning to run dating sites like Tinder.
“This is as wacky as you’ll ever get,” he said.
“If I just taught straight maths, which students can enjoy, it gives your brain a sense of order and the power of logic. That’s the benefit of mathematics beyond the pure discipline.”
“If we could just get the wokeness out of maths and every other subject, we'd be so much better off.”
Latham also warned that there are “alarming statistics of a very high number of teachers who’ve got no training in maths, no particular expertise, who were standing in front of the maths class.”
“It’s a dismal failure on every front to try and lift students’ results and build an academy of more mathematicians.”
Meanwhile, Year 12 participation in advanced maths plummeted below 10 percent for the first time, to 9.2 percent (compared to 11.6 percent in 2009), and enrollment in intermediate maths dropped to 17.6 percent (compared to 23.3 percent in 2008).
AMSI Director Professor Tim Marchant described Australia’s declining mathematics participation as a “multi-faceted problem” that requires “national collaboration between government and educators to reverse.”
“It is critical we act now to tackle out-of-field mathematics teaching, which is happening 40 percent of the time. We need to be working with these teachers, increasing their training and professional development,” he said.
The AMSI report also found that only 6.7 percent of female students were enrolled in advanced maths (compared to 7.5 percent in 2019), and 16.8 percent participated in intermediate maths (compared to 20.5 percent in 2019). A greater drop was observed in the male category, with the participation rate in advanced maths decreasing from 12.9 percent in 2019 to 11.9 percent in 2020.,
Prof. Marchant warned that “little time is being left” to make sure Australia’s workforce is equipped for future innovation opportunities, with 75 percent of Australia’s fastest-growing employment areas demanding STEM skills.
“Mathematics skills are essential across so many industry sectors, and the severity of this situation will impact Australia’s innovation capabilities. Action must be taken now – these students are our future workforce,” he said.
“This data should be taken as a wake-up call and chance to reform,” said Marchant.
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