Posted on 10/24/2017 9:14:39 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
A University of Illinois math professor believes that algebra and geometry perpetuate “white privilege” because Greek terms give Caucasians unearned credit for the subject.
But that isn’t the professor’s only complaint. She also believes that evaluations for math proficiency perpetuates discrimination against minority students, if they do worse than their white counterparts.
Rochelle Gutierrez argues in a newly published math education book for teachers that they must be aware of the identity politics surrounding the subject of mathematics.
“On many levels, mathematics itself operates as Whiteness,” she argues with complete sincerity, according to Campus Reform. “Who gets credit for doing and developing mathematics, who is capable in mathematics, and who is seen as part of the mathematical community is generally viewed as White.”
Gutierrez argues that subjects like algebra and geometry, which relate to arithmetic, also perpetuate racism and white privilege. She worries that “curricula emphasizing terms like Pythagorean theorem and pi perpetuate a perception that mathematics was largely developed by Greeks and other Europeans.”
Gutierrez claims that the importance of math skills in the real world also places what she calls an “unearned privilege” for those who are good at it. Because most math teachers in the United States are white, white people stand to benefit from their grasp of the subject disproportionate to members of other races.
“Are we really that smart just because we do mathematics?” she asks, raising the question as to why math professors get more grants than “social studies or English” professors.
“If one is not viewed as mathematical, there will always be a sense of inferiority that can be summoned,” she says, claiming that minorities “have experienced microaggressions from participating in math classrooms… [where people are] judged by whether they can reason abstractly.”
To resolve the intelligence gap, Gutierrez calls on math professors to develop a sense of “political conocimiento,” a Spanish term for “political knowledge for teaching.”
She concludes her argument with the claim that all knowledge is “relational,” or is, in other words, relative. “Things cannot be known objectively; they must be known subjectively.”
The professor must be a democrat he pimps the dumbing down program he fails to think about blacks who make it to the top are they enjoying ‘White Privilege’?.
To solve this problem, I suggest that any students who feel that these subjects are somehow racist, just not take those courses. No one is forcing them to do so. If enrollment drops enough, there will be no need for so many liberal professors.
The fact that I can’t run like a rabbit and jump like a kangaroo keeps me from getting a multi-million dollar NBA contract, but hey, that’s life.
Wouldn’t the logic here be that crack, meth, and cocaine are all ‘white privilege’ and therefore blacks and Latinos should decline them?
Also for women....since bras and tampons were all invented by ‘white privilege’....shouldn’t they be declined as well?
What makes you think I wasn’t referring to the Asian scientist?
Or,
What makes you think I can’t make up pronouns at will?
And black people wonder why they are at the bottom of the employment chain! If they won’t get with the program by finishing school then they must not be supported by hard working Americans. I don’t care what you call it, I’m sick and tired of their bullsheit so please make it stop.
Don’t forget Murphy’s Law, and Calhoun’s Corollary thereof.
Here is a mathematical concept.
Zero.
Definition: A mathematical placeholder or value representing null.
Example: This Prof’s IQ is zero.
How come the Asians, Chinese, etc do well in Math?
Perhaps they study!
ML/NJ
Methinks that there's not a whole lot of real, honest-to-goodness learning going on there.
I thought algebra (al-jabr) was a Muslim construct. Oh, wait- most Muslims are white or only a little off-white anyway. White privilege!
Yes, but don’t let the Arabs / muslems foo you. It was the Sumerians that invented mathematics.
http://www.storyofmathematics.com/sumerian.html
The only math they need is give me ma money.
Hidden Figures???
That is too funny!
How did she get her doctorate? How did she get hired?
I suspect any intellectual proficiency (other than in gender studies and ‘thin-skinned’ gripe of the moment studies) will be seen as ‘racist’...
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