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Is Math Racist?
Christian Post ^ | 07/10/2023 | John Stonestreet, G. Shane Morris

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.



TOPICS: Education; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: brooklyncollege; laurierubel; math; mathematics; newyork; newyorkcity; racism
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To: V_TWIN

Exactly!


41 posted on 07/10/2023 9:08:52 AM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: SeekAndFind

What won’t the lefties label racist?!


42 posted on 07/10/2023 9:09:05 AM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: SeekAndFind
"and the area of a circle will always be π r²"

A silly old joke where the teacher asks if anyone knows what πr² is. A Black kid says, "teacher, π aren't square π are round. Cornbread are square. ba dum TSSS🙂
43 posted on 07/10/2023 9:11:25 AM PDT by Impala64ssa (81 million votes my ass!)
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To: RFEngineer

In my several years of math teaching — basic to Trig. I found that geometry was the line class. Algebra can be done with “turn and crank” thinking, geometry (proofs) take more abstraction.

In my own case, I stumbled through algebra and in geometry I found that I could see the solution far easier than some classmates. I also saw that some teachers did not “see” enough of the problem to help the student who was asking a question. That led me to consider teaching.

But as far as race — I was color blind. I taught the facts of math to everyone. I tried to see the hang up that was keeping some students from “getting it”. But there is nothing racial in math.

Look for the problem in the background classes. Help the students who are in crummy schools and get rid of math teachers who have trouble themselves with math.

The hardest thing for a math teacher to hear is “I hated math, it was my hardest subject”.


44 posted on 07/10/2023 9:12:08 AM PDT by KC_for_Freedom (retired aerospace engineer and CSP who also taught)
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To: SeekAndFind

“...some educators on Earth seem to think....”

Uh, modern ‘educators’ are not capable of thought. Back in the days of real school, we had teachers. And boy, did THEY think. And I’m glad I had them to teach me.


45 posted on 07/10/2023 9:22:50 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: SeekAndFind
the area of a circle will always be π r²

On a planar surface, yes.

46 posted on 07/10/2023 9:24:59 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: SeekAndFind
False accusations of racism is the most racist tactic of all.
The Left seeks to divide and sow discord, ignite and fan flames of hatred where there was none before.
Crying racism about everything you don't like, is the mantra of today.

47 posted on 07/10/2023 9:25:35 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: Sacajaweau

not about brains, it is about dividing the races when a population is divided it is easier to conquer.


48 posted on 07/10/2023 9:29:01 AM PDT by Ronald77
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To: SeekAndFind
In woke math, division is banned because we strive to unite, not divide each other.

In woke math, odd numbers are being bullied and should be eliminated.

In woke math, powers should be eliminated because it comes from white supremacy.

In woke math, roots should be eliminated because it is cultural appropriation.

In woke math, squares should be eliminated because it is shaming.

In woke math, acute angles should be eliminated because everyone is beautiful.

In woke math, commutative laws equal the playing field in our justice system.

In woke math, distributive laws are social justice.

In woke math, associative laws are elitist and should be banned.

In woke math, limits should be banned because everyone should be encouraged to reach their full potential.

In woke math, unions and intersectionality are perfectly fine. Minus is forbidden, however, unless under $950 is taken away from the set.

In woke math, inequalities are banned. Nobody is less than or greater than another. Only equal outcomes are acceptable.

-PJ

49 posted on 07/10/2023 9:32:04 AM PDT by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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To: SeekAndFind

Math is not racist...but it is elitist....it is prejudiced against people who cannot understand it, of ANY skin color.


50 posted on 07/10/2023 9:33:30 AM PDT by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and harder to find.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well, I have mathematically proven that the theory of fossil fuel is false, sooo..
Yes, math is racist


51 posted on 07/10/2023 9:35:26 AM PDT by joe fonebone (And the people said NO! The End)
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To: SeekAndFind

Sure. Everyone knows if 100 black folks pick on one white man. the white man is racist and probably a white supremacist.


52 posted on 07/10/2023 9:35:44 AM PDT by antidemoncrat (AS )
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To: Da Coyote
You are so right! I remember when my 8th grade teacher, during the now Racist Math class, said “I am not here to give you the answer. I am here to teach you to think.”
53 posted on 07/10/2023 9:35:44 AM PDT by Chgogal (Welcome to Fuhrer Biden's Weaponized Fascist Banana Republic! It's the road to hell.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Wouldn’t math have to be sentient to have that trait?


54 posted on 07/10/2023 9:55:45 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: KC_for_Freedom
"I taught the facts of math to everyone. I tried to see the hang up that was keeping some students from “getting it”. But there is nothing racial in math."

Exactly. The Left is making excuses for the poor performance at their schools.

Most students can excel in math, but they're bored by it. They can't see how math applies to their lives.

Plus, math requires lots of practice. Most students don't want to do all that boring math homework.

That's what's really going on.

For the record, I'm not saying that math is boring. I used to think so. But, late in life, I realized math is enjoyable. It's like solving brainteasers and puzzles.

But, many young people don't enjoy it.

55 posted on 07/10/2023 10:00:57 AM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: SeekAndFind

Understand is a big word. Triple polar coordinate integration to derive simple formulas such as
(4/3 pi r cubed)
which is the volume of a sphere of radius r.
Even this phone is racist on math
No special math expression characters¿
We just learn to get along without them since every hurt but would.


56 posted on 07/10/2023 10:03:24 AM PDT by Recompennation (Don’t blame me my vote didn’t count)
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To: SeekAndFind
math has been and continues to be used to oppress and marginalize people and communities of color.

Let's dig deeper into this statement:

In the British Caribbean countries, mostly black, they must take the same A and O level standard tests in math, science, etc. as their British counterparts in the UK. In that, those Caribbean students know they have to study hard and apply themselves to achieve the scores necessary to go to the university.

In all of that time, I have never heard any complaints from the population there about math being "racist".

It's a ruse invented by American leftists -- don't fall for it.

57 posted on 07/10/2023 10:03:39 AM PDT by PallMal
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To: KC_for_Freedom

Adding to my post: Not only are many students bored by math, but also they’re intimidated by the numbers and figures.


58 posted on 07/10/2023 10:07:05 AM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: KC_for_Freedom

I have an old 8th grade math book from the 1950’s.

It was all about practical math. How to balance your checkbook. How to create an invoice. How to calculate a sales discount (”20% off of 15.98”). How to use scale on a map. Heavy emphasis on word problems.

We should go back to that. Elementary school match should be oriented around teaching kids arithmetic and the math they use in daily life. Leave the arcane aspects for high school or college.


59 posted on 07/10/2023 10:09:22 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so stupid people won’t be offended)
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To: SeekAndFind
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”

Well Rachel, using your logic I have examined other careers and discovered that they same discrimination appears in the NBA, but reversed. So that would mean you would concur that the NBA is racist to Whites….

60 posted on 07/10/2023 10:09:57 AM PDT by Lockbox (politicians, they all seemed like game show hosts to me.... Sting)
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