2 + 2 = Racism

Just when you thought liberals couldn't get any sillier:

In some public schools math teachers do more than teach algebra and geometry — they give their students lessons intended to purge what they consider racism.

The "anti-racist education" program in place at Newton Public Schools in Newton, Mass., a wealthy, liberal niche of the Bay State, has angered some parents who believe the school district is more concerned about political correctness than teaching math skills.

According to benchmarks for middle school education, the top objective for the district's math teachers is to teach "respect for human differences." The objective is for students to "live out the system-wide core value of 'respect for human differences' by demonstrating anti-racist/anti-bias behaviors."

Priority No. 2 is where the basics come in, which is "problem solving and representation — students will build new mathematical knowledge as they use a variety of techniques to investigate and represent solutions to problems."

And the results of this "anti-racist education" are:

Some parents say their students not only are in desperate need of math help but that some students also don't know the basics of U.S. history and that antiracist policies are getting in the way of teaching the basics.

"The 'antiracist' and, actually, 'anti-American' curriculum permeates the school environment," Lillian Benson, whose children, ages 8 and 11, attend the district's schools, told FOXnews.com in an e-mail.

"My children do not know Christopher Columbus, except that he was a racist who caused the death of many innocents or the founders of the nation. They have hardly heard of George Washington or Abraham Lincoln even though we live in the area that began it all. What they do know about is the wonders of Ghana, Mexico and China," she said.

Another parent, Julie Agarkov says it's ridiculous that people living in the community pay top dollar so their kids can attend good public schools, yet she still pays to send her son to the Boston area's Russian School of Mathematics "to ensure that he gets a good math education."

The Russian School of Mathematics is a private, after-school math institution for kids grades K-12. Iness Rifkin, founder of the school, told FOXNews.com that of the 700 kids now enrolled in her school, 400 of them are from the Newton district; 120 of them are middle schoolers. She began the school out of her home seven years ago with her two children and a few of their friends.

"Now, seven years later, I have 700 students, mainly from Newton public schools … I can't even accommodate all the people who want to be in the school this year," Rifkin said.

Rifkin said she approached Young to offer to either teach Newton teachers how to better teach math or to have the district give kids a choice to either attend Math at Newton or at her school at no extra charge to the district; parents already are paying to send their kids to her school. This way, kids wouldn't have to take math at two different places.

"He didn't want to listen to that," she said. "Parents tell me they feel sorry for their kids to spend double time — time in public school and time in my school."

And people wonder why homeschooling has become so popular.