Diane Ravitch has a nice piece on Politically Correct math in today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Sample:

“In a comparison of a 1973 algebra textbook and a 1998 ‘contemporary mathematics’ textbook, Williamson Evers and Paul Clopton found a dramatic change in topics. In the 1973 book, for example, the index for the letter ‘F’ included ‘factors, factoring, fallacies, finite decimal, finite set, formulas, fractions, and functions.’ In the 1998 book, the index listed ‘families (in poverty data), fast food nutrition data, fat in fast food, feasibility study, feeding tours, ferris wheel, fish, fishing, flags, flight, floor plan, flower beds, food, football, Ford Mustang, franchises, and fund-raising carnival.’”

Given the state of our culture, I’m glad that’s all they found under “F”!