Algebra is one of the biggest hurdles to getting a high school or college degree — particularly for students of color and first-generation undergrads.
Hmmmm ... I bet the Chinese, Japanese, etc. "first generation undergrads" don't have much trouble with algebra.
What, exactly, are the authors saying without realizing that they're saying it?
That would be a piss poor barometer.
Actually, I tested with a high IQ and was lousy at math in general. I did like Geometry for some weird reason but even there I only got mediocre grades. I always froze on tests for some reason.
“What, exactly, are the authors saying without realizing that they’re saying it? “
They are saying “You know how we keep saying there’s no difference between black/white, man/woman? That’s BS.”
Two reasons. One is that Chinese and Japanese think in symbols already. The other is that education is highly prized in Confucian culture.
Education used to be highly prized when our culture was primarily Aristotelian, but Plato-Marxists want dependent schlubs who need Guardians to keep them in the Cave, not thoughtful citizens with equal rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
That is only probable for left-brained, linear thinkers. In my many years of working with artists, architects, designers, writers, photographers, etc., several of whom had near-genius or genius IQ, very few could "do" higher abstract math, even algebra. Yet they had excelled in visual math like plane geometry.
"All God's children got a place in the choir/ some sing low, some sing higher..."