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San Francisco's decision to delay Algebra for all students until the 9th grade in the name of "equity," is a really bad one. Black parents didn't ask for this, and this strategy won't achieve the equity that they're looking for.
Hard to accept: A lot of "anti-woke" people believe that being woke is all just a lot of bad decisions like this. This belief is due to framing by the far-right: any bad policy is "woke." I help them understand that Black families don't want this and didn't ask for it.
@mekkaokereke I don't understand what part of "lets get rid of advanced programs because not all students are advanced and there is inequity in that advancement.
If they had special school, maybe after school or in the summer specifically for students in key areas to GET advanced they might just have a little better luck. Algebra is a good start. They might even throw some study skills in there since it is shown that those skills are the biggest problem for kids from disadvantaged homes.
The "there's inequity in *advanced* classes" argument does have merit.
Black kids are often misidentified as "not gifted" and white kids are often misidentified as "gifted." And then gifted kids get better resources, more attention, better classes, smaller class sizes, that makes the gifted label a self fulfilling prophecy.
The solve for that may not be "No gifted programs for anyone!" It may again be "Reduce the racism."
Similar arguments are for sexism / non neurotypicals.
On gender and tracking:
A not-rich little white 1st grade girl that has undiagnosed bad eyesight, is more likely than a rich white boy, to be mislabelled as "not good at math" and put on the slower education track.
She finally gets her diagnosis and her glasses in the 5th grade, but by then it's too late. She fights to make up ground to get into her dream college, then says things like, "I majored in Chemistry at Cornell, which was hard because I have never been good at math!" 
@mekkaokereke In undergrad I tutored math and was wildly popular among women. I learned to ask in the 1st or 2nd session "OK, who was it who made you believe you were bad at math?"
Every. Single. Student could, and did name names.
Same, except I tutored football players. They would need help with Calculus or Linear Algebra, but I would start them literally at arithmetic. Not kidding. Then I would test their knowledge and walk up until I found the exact place that their understanding went from "complete mastery" to "some gaps." This was often around algebra, pre-calc, or geometry. Then I would fill in that pothole, and everything else would snap into place!
It felt like this:
https://youtu.be/jChiI15Iwa4
@mekkaokereke @longobord I find this lack of algebra understanding common, and I feel like the solution is more algebra with a variety of pedagogy and no skipping. Lots of people say they understand things, but they really just memorize the mechanics. Algebra is the most important part of K-12 math curriculum, and schools should ensure maximum understanding even at the expense of boredom for "gifted" kids because it's very hard to tell when someone actually understands.
@heathborders @mekkaokereke There's a HUGE difference between "skipping" and "starting early".
@longobord @mekkaokereke yep. I agree. We should start earlier and require probably 2-3 years of algebra for every student.
Biases:
1. I skipped 8th grade math to do Algebra in 8th grade
2. My son skipped 7th grade math to do Algebra in 7th grade
3. I have a BS in Math
My recommendation would have bored the hell out of me given the quality of schools I came from and my parents' lack of ability to get me outside tutoring, but it also probably would have benefitted many classmates I know that got As in Algebra bc they only memorized procedures