Posted on 07/10/2023 7:40:40 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Few subjects seem less political than math. There is little room for subjective judgment because its truths are universal. No matter what you look like or where you’re from or how you feel about it, two plus two will always equal four, and the area of a circle will always be π r². Math is so objective, in fact, some scientists have theorized that prime numbers could offer the basis of communication with supposed intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos.
However, even if aliens know that math has no racial or gender bias, some educators on Earth seem to think otherwise. Even amid plummeting math scores in the latest Nation’s Report Card data, a growing chorus of progressive voices insists that racism and sexism are the biggest problems we face in how to teach math.
A couple years ago, in an article in the Scientific American, Rachel Crowell complained about the racial and gender disparities among those who make a career out of mathematics. She pointed out, for instance, that “fewer than 1% of doctorates in math are awarded to African Americans” and that only 29.1% “were awarded to women.” More mathematicians, she writes, have been pushing to discuss these issues and “force the field to confront the racism, sexism and other harmful bias it sometimes harbors.”
Though, undoubtedly, examples of identity-group bias in all fields exist, Crowell chose to root her complaint in intangibles: Math doctorates are not “earned” or “received” or “completed;” they are “awarded,” a word choice that not so subtly reinforces her conclusion that something about math education is racist.
Writing at Newsweek, Jason Rantz cited examples of public schools teaching students that math itself, and the way it has always been taught, is oppressive. In Seattle, recently introduced guidelines for K-12 math teachers in several pilot schools claim that “mathematical knowledge has been appropriated by Western culture” and that “math has been and continues to be used to oppress and marginalize people and communities of color.”
In 2021, Oregon’s Department of Education introduced a new toolkit called A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction, created by what Rantz calls “a coalition of left-wing educators.” The toolkit promises “an integrated approach to mathematics that centers Black, Latinx, and [m]ultilingual students in grades 6-8.” It also warns teachers that “[t]he concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false,” and that “[u]pholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuates objectivity as well as fear of open conflict.”
This ideological trend in which everything is read through lenses of oppression and victimhood is not isolated in extreme, left-wing enclaves but has become widespread in education. Given the “Critical Theory mood” inflicting Western culture today, it is only likely to grow in the coming years.
One of the many problems with this obsession with racism and oppression in math is that it inevitably leaves students worse at math. In the case of the Seattle pilot schools, for example, performance among black students in the state math exam plummeted after implementing the woke curriculum. Bad ideas with good intentions are still bad ideas. In an effort to empower students, they are instead radically disempowered.
The wonder of mathematics lies precisely in its objectivity, as Melissa Cain Travis describes in Thinking God’s Thoughts, in the miraculous way that math corresponds to and describes the world around us. In her book, Travis chronicles how the beauty and objectivity of numbers led 16th century German astronomer Johannes Kepler to discover the three laws of planetary motion and to correctly describe the structure of our solar system. Kepler, as much a student of God as he was a scientist, believed that the truths of numbers were eternal, existing eternally in the mind of God and structuring all of reality. Our minds — as beings made in God’s image — are uniquely suited to unlock those mysteries.
Students who are taught that answers to algebra problems depend on the color of their skin and that calculus professors are oppressors are not only not going to unlock the mysteries of the universe, but they will also believe what is not true about who they are and the world in which they live. Woke educators may hope to liberate students. But by depriving them of objective truths they are subjugating them to bad ideas. It’s a tragically ironic and disastrous miscalculation.
Originally published at BreakPoint.
John Stonestreet serves as president of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He’s a sought-after author and speaker on areas of faith and culture, theology, worldview, education and apologetics.
Shane Morris is a senior writer at the Colson Center, where he has been the resident Calvinist and millennial, home-school grad since 2010, and an intern under Chuck Colson. He writes BreakPoint commentaries and columns. Shane has also written for The Federalist, The Christian Post, and Summit Ministries, and he blogs regularly for Patheos Evangelical as Troubler of Israel.
Nobody thinks math is racist when they are counting their change.
Math is racist? I think it’s misogynistic. I failed my Algebra Regents Exam in NY due to vicious cramps and puking in the aisle next to my desk.
So ... Misogynistic. That’s what I’m going with. Let’s revolt.
"If 2 inches of snow falls today and 2 more inches fall tomorrow, how many total inches have fallen?"The appropriate anti-racist math question would be...
"Ramone has an AK-47 with a 30 round mag. He usually misses 6 out of every 10 shots and he uses 13 rounds per drive-by shooting. How many drive-by shootings can Ramone attempt before he has to reload?"
Stem in general is easier for higher IQ folk with good pattern discernment which is around 25% of IQ testing now but used to be more
They lowered it since it brings the black aggregate down
Blacks and some other minorities score 20-25% less than whites worldwide and in some sub equatorial African nations it’s much lower
I’m not sure how we fix it
The civilization lags we deal with worldwide has crippled us
The remedy nowadays is to bring the top down rather than bottom up
The elite who already have theirs and the leaders of minorities seem good with this
I’m not
Within the white strata you have disparity too but nobody seems to care
Is math racist?
No, it usually represents an objective truth.
But if your brain can’t handle the levels of abstraction required to perform high-level math at a fairly early age, then it’s unlikely you will ever figure it out.
Some draw the line at algebra as being the great separator of economic success. Those that understand and can functionally utilize algebra are generally more successful than those that cannot.
Is there a racial component to the brains ability to understand and use algebra? I’m not touching that with a 10-foot pole, but if there were a racial component, todays leftist attitudes would relegate algebra to the ash heap of learning in favor of something less-rigorous - attributing lack of relative success of one racial group to another to “racism” not the ability to do algebra - which is a marker of success in society - so it’s algebras fault, and if you teach it, you are racist.
This is the express path to the economic decline of any country, and we are on it.
It’s probably not just that, on average, for whites or Asians.
But whoever has the talent and interest and puts in the work will end up there—and that’s how it should be.
Interesting research shows, in keeping with how Thomas Sowell has argued for decades, more blacks graduate with STEM degrees when they are matched equally between their preparation and the college they attend. AA hurts their success in those fields.
Anything that involves noticing patterns and grasping analogies is racist, not in favor of Whites alone, but specifically against African Americans.
Math is non-physical and statistically speaking, blacks need more action and emotion in their lives.
It’s simple, really. Morons can’t learn much of anything.
in reality, merely suggesting that something like math "is racist", in itself, fits the definition of racism.
Therefore, by definition, anyone who would suggest math is racist, is in fact a racist
So, are they too stupid to do the math, or too lazy to strive for the correct solution?
The left seems to think it is one or the other, as nobody is actually dumb enough to suggest math is racist. The lowered expectations of blacks by the left would be hilarious if it wasn’t so dangerous. Keep telling people they are incapable of success and they will react in an unpleasant manner.
Why wasn't that study done on the NBA or NFL? Can't blame math when low achievers don't like it.
That would mean the black women from the movie HIDDEN FIGURES weren’t really math smart...Did white men do the work???If math is racist now, it had to be racist then.....
Ya, just like the laws of physics - what BS.
“How do you “appropriate” math?”
Everything is appropriated. It is done to fit the societal needs of a given area. Roads are not built to end in the woods if there is nothing to gain from it. We buy liquids based upon the appropriate size needed like milk, bottled water and the cost of consumption rather than a set price for it’s use. I don’t have a pool. Should I pay the same price as the Venetian for water every month? This is how free enterprise works and in the end separates itself from the forms of government control used by the countries we left and made us the most powerful overall country on the rock. We do it better because we think, not follow all the time.
Years ago the “experts” decided they needed to teach kids how to think about complex problems. But everything in life is not E=MC2 and provided in theory only like that formula. (And we’re still not quite sure if that is correct as no one has gone the speed of light consistently and energy fluctuates)
So math switched from computation to theory. And suddenly simple related math questions became so complex that training became the practice to come up with a questionable answer. 1 + 1 disappeared. And I am amazed at how difficult it is for people to count back basic change of a dollar at the restaurant. And giving them a $20 bill plus a penny for a $10.01 price and they need grief counselling. Just another step closer to the corral for the cattle that at some point will be slaughtered.
And I can’t wait till someone brings up reading skills. According to a recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education in 2016, 19 percent of high school graduates are functionally illiterate, which means they can’t read well enough to manage daily living and perform tasks required by many jobs.
Now you might say that was 6 years ago. According to Lifeskills 21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2023. (Losing found) Then some might say it is the influx of immigrants. Same study said only 34% of that 21% number who lack proficiency in literacy were born outside the US. Don’t hold water.
Mathematics is a skill required to survive in certain needs. Communication is a much bigger need on the pie chart. To get a measured glass of water you need first to tell someone you’re thirsty that owns the well. And numbers need to be read and understood just like the ABC’s.
wy69
“That would mean the black women from the movie HIDDEN FIGURES weren’t really math smart.”
That movie was as fake as a three dollar bill.
When NASA named a building after one of the ladies she honestly acknowledged that her role was vastly over-stated.
This was a “feel good” myth—classic Deep State brainwashing.
“One of the many problems with this obsession with racism and oppression in math is that it inevitably leaves students worse at math.”
That’s not a bug. It’s a feature.
L
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