Math teacher says he was called ‘ideologically violent’ for supporting standardized testing

Key Takeaways

While studying at one of the “top” higher education institutions in the U.S., a new author recalls how he was described as “ideologically violent” for arguing in favor of standardized testing.

This incident and other concerns about diversity, equity, and inclusion in education inspired him to write a book.

His book “Unbalanced: Memoir of an Immigrant Math Teacher,” written under the pen name “Yellow Heights,” raises concerns about the ideologically-driven focus of higher education.

“Unbalanced” was released on Amazon and recently won a Maxy Award, an honor for indie and self-published books. The book also is partially available for free on the author’s substack.

Yellow Heights describes himself as a “former climate researcher, software engineer, investment manager, and high school math teacher.” He also is a first-generation immigrant from China and father of two. He writes under a penname and requested anonymity due to concerns about political and job discrimination due to his views.

“This book recounts his Kafkaesque experiences at education school, where he was labeled a white supremacist simply for asking questions,” according to the book’s Amazon page. “He shares firsthand accounts of teaching math at a public and a private school, offering a panoramic view of the issues surrounding wokeness, coddling, and the lack of accountability in education.”

The College Fix spoke on the phone recently with Yellow Heights about his book, his experiences going back to college to become a teacher, and his views of the current American education system.

After working as a software engineer and manager at Microsoft, he said he decided to go back to college in the late 2010s to become a math teacher. Although he did not name the school, he said it was one of the top 10 education institutions in the U.S.

Yellow Heights said he wanted to teach math because “I just take a great joy in seeing other people learning math and find math interesting. I want to basically make more people see the beauty of math and also the practical side of it.”

Around 2020, his experiences at college grew increasingly concerning.

Once, he said he and a fellow classmate asked some “learning related questions” only to end up “being labeled white supremacists by the instructor and the students.”

In another case, after the George Floyd protests, he said one “very kind, very well intentioned teacher” encouraged the students to continue class after giving them about 20 minutes to mourn — “and she was attacked. She was accused of lacking empathy at all and she was made to cry.”

Another incident occurred when Yellow Heights defended standardized testing. “I didn’t say it’s perfect. I just said we probably need some objective assessment of learning outcomes and we can improve it rather than just say it’s … evil itself.”

In response, the author said he was called “ideologically violent.”

As for how he would like to change the education system, Yellow Heights said, “I see three main issues with education right now.”

“The first one is ideology…I learned very few things about how to teach, but every day I was taught how to be an equity teacher,” he told The Fix.

“The second one that I see is there…is almost a culture of fragility for students. It’s an imbalance between supporting students and also challenging them,” the author said, adding that teachers can become “afraid to challenge” students.

The third issue is “a lack of accountability” for “student learning outcomes.” Teachers assess students themselves but lack access to outside assessment, like standardized test scores or previous grades, he said.

At first, Yellow Heights wasn’t planning to write a book. He penned some essays he “didn’t really publish” because, as he told The Fix, “I was still planning to hold on to the teaching career.”

On his decision to self-publish, he told The Fix: “The traditional publishers I contacted all turned me down. I understand…the industry is not doing well…[and] I have no prior credentials or experiences. Also, some seem to take issue with the topic I’m writing about. It’s rather sensitive.”

The author shared more information about his writing process. “I was trained in a lot of subjects — engineering, economics, geography, … education — but I was not trained in writing and also English is not even my first language so writing the book hasn’t been very easy.”

“But once I decide to write it, I learn as I do … With both of my careers, I was learning while I was doing and I was doing very, very well. In fact, that’s kind of a signature of my career…I’ve never had a computer science degree but I was working very well at Microsoft on software engineering … I think learning is really something that stimulates me.”

Yellow Heights took writing courses, hired “several professional editors,” and revised his book based on the feedback of friends and “a very large body of beta readers.”

“It took me one year to finish the book mostly and one year to really revise it,” he said. “… I think it’s actually a good thing [it took so long]. If I rushed it, it wouldn’t be as good.”

The book was endorsed by two scholars—Sarah Williams who serves as director at Sophie Hicks Agency and is a faculty member of the Columbia Publishing Course at Oxford University, Exeter College, and Wenli Li, an economist and lecturer at Princeton University.

Regarding the Maxy Award, the author said it “gave me a lot of pride and also it’s an affirmation as well and encouragement because I’ve written from a unique perspective as an immigrant…[and] I’ll sometimes wonder if my perspective is not widely shared…by an audience outside of my immediate community.”

“Also, I think the book has been selling very well…I was very proud that some of those friends who were not even very close to me after reading the book…[became] such strong advocates.”

He shared a story about one teacher who wrote a positive review of his book, which she prefaced with: “I wanted to write a bad review and I wanted to stop reading this several times because the tone was so sharp…I’ve been a teacher all my life…I believe it’s a very good book and I recommend to…study it.”

As for what’s next, Yellow Heights hopes to become a teacher again. He currently is battling some health issues.

And “I think I may write another book,” he said.