NATIONALPOST.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2006: "Our goal, then, is not to provide special education for a privileged elite -- but to provide an exceptional education for the truly exceptional."] ARTICLE: Most educators strive to further student excellence. Absurdly, the Vancouver School Board is doing the opposite. Under what has now become the idolatrous trinity of diversity, inclusion and equity, the school board has chopped classes for those who are gifted in mathematics and science. They chopped the honours English program five years ago. The children of other nations, particularly poorer nations, are not shunting their brightest and best off to some sidecar of mediocrity. They appreciate talent; they applaud excellence. The school board is also cutting all sports programs and competitions. They will also end all coaching for students who show special skills at hockey, track and field, wrestling and ping pong. "Sports competitions are ... deeply at variance with equity and inclusion goals." said one staff member. I wonder ...

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INDEPENDENT.ORG -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2005: "The reality is that not all students are created equal intellectually."] ARTICLE: The proposed California Math Framework states "We reject ideas of natural gifts and talents." It repeatedly recommends teachers use the troubling document, "A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction" which states that (a) forthrightly addressing students' mistakes, (b) a focus on "getting the right answer," (c) requiring students "show their work" and (d) grading them on demonstrated knowledge are all indicators of "white supremacy in the mathematics classroom." The manual also says that "the concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false" and that "upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuates 'objectivity.' " The framework rejects preparing students for Algebra I in 8th grade. Students in Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan master Algebra I in 8th grade or even ...

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THEEPOCHTIMES.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2016: "Often, we find it easier to define our identity by what we are against, than by what we are for."] ARTICLE: Cancel culture penalises anyone with views not approved by the left. Now, it's targeting the whole of Russia and all things Russian. Besides America, Western countries are all getting into the game. One of the world's great chess players was banned because he supports the Russian president, people, and army. If India invaded Pakistan -- rightly or wrongly -- 99% of Indians will support the Indian prime minister, people and army. An international cat federation has banned Russian cats and a global tree festival has banned a tree planted almost two centuries ago by a great Russian writer. There is something comic in all this. Will all this virtue signalling really make Putin change his mind? Why should the Russian people ...

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THESTAR.COM -- Following the 2019 [pre-pandemic] release of Ontario provincial test scores, the Toronto District School Board can't explain why most math results are dropping. Across Ontario only 58% (down from 63% and 71%, 4 and 9 years earlier) of 3rd graders are performing at or above provincial standards. And just 48% (down from 50% and 61%, 4 and 9 years earlier) of 6th graders are performing at or above provincial standards. In Toronto, the largest school board in Canada with 246,000 students, 3rd and 6th graders are doing worse than the provincial average. Only 61% of 3rd graders and 53% of 6th graders are meeting standards. At the Toronto Catholic District School Board, just 58% of 3rd graders and 44% of 6th graders met standards. In Peel District ...

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ZEROHEDGE.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2007: "The path to meritocracy in leadership is meritocracy in education."] ARTICLE: In 2021 there's an outright holy war against scholastic achievement. Oregon passed a bill that says high school students don't need be able to read, write, and do math to graduate, even though the latest Rasmussen survey finds that 81% of American adults oppose such laws and only 12% favor them. Mathematics, we are told, should be replaced by "social justice" mathematics, in which there are no correct answers and, in English, students should not be judged on the quality of their writing. Recruitment of future scientists and science teachers and researchers should no longer be based on achievement, merit, and potential, but on "diversity, equity, and inclusion." Opinion polling shows that a supermajority of Americans, including every racial minority group, oppose ...

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THEEPOCHTIMES.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 1978: "Some might say that our academic systems [in Aga Khan schools] are a little old-fashioned. Yes, we believe in examinations."] ARTICLE: California State University, the largest public university system in the United States, said it will no longer use entrance exams in undergraduate admissions. ACT criticized the move, arguing that it is more likely to harm than help students, especially those of underrepresented demographics who depend on standardized test scores to showcase their academic achievements. "Abandoning objective assessments, like the ACT test, introduces greater subjectivity and uncertainty into the admissions process," ACT said in a statement. "Solving the prevailing education inequities requires focus on root causes, rather than dismissing the tools that substantially improve our understanding of them," the company added. Both Cal State and UC administrators suspended ...

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