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In K-12 Mathematics
The letter makes many valid and important points about the importance of rigor in K-12 mathematics education. It is an impassioned plea; it is a rational and reasoned wake-up call; it is a genuine offer to help rectify the situation.
If you are a US-based STEM professional, I urge you to sign this open letter. I just did.
Kicking the can
According to the open letter,
While such reforms superficially seem “successful” at reducing disparities at the high school level, they are merely “kicking the can” to college.
In other words, the problem of helping students achieve math mastery is not really solved by initiatives like the CMF. All they do is delay the reckoning to a later stage by which time there is a much smaller or nonexistent window for students (who might once have had high potential) to make up for the lost years.
The attempts to reduce disparities at the K-12 level smack of failure and defeat. School systems have been unable to reduce disparities by standard means — offering additional help/personalized tutoring, for example — and so they are attempting to put brakes on and slow the students who are naturally talented / fast learners.
