Mathematics is Racist!

February 12, 2021, 11:58 AM

Johnny 3eagles

Oregon is at it again. Now they are training teachers that math is racist.

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) recently encouraged teachers to register for training that encourages "ethnomathematics" and argues, among other things, that White supremacy manifests itself in the focus on finding the right answer.

An ODE newsletter sent last week advertises a Feb. 21 "Pathway to Math Equity Micro-Course," which is designed for middle school teachers to make use of a toolkit for "dismantling racism in mathematics." The event website identifies the event as a partnership between California's San Mateo County Office of Education, The Education Trust-West and others.

Part of the toolkit includes a list of ways "white supremacy culture" allegedly "infiltrates math classrooms." Those include "the focus is on getting the 'right' answer," students being "required to 'show their work,'" and other alleged manifestations.

"The concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false, and teaching it is even much less so," the document for the "Equitable Math" toolkit reads. "Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict."

More at the LINKY

NEXT TO GO? Spelling?
After that: Thinking is White Privilege.

February 12, 2021, 12:06 PM

sigfreund

“The important thing is to understand what you’re doing rather than to get the right answer.”

Tom Lehrer: The New Math (1965)

Now, however, we can also dispense with understanding what we’re doing.
All part of the master plan to make it impossible for us to resist the takeover.

February 12, 2021, 12:07 PM

TSE

quote:
Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
Oregon is at it again. Now they are training teachers that math is racist.

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) recently encouraged teachers to register for training that encourages "ethnomathematics" and argues, among other things, that White supremacy manifests itself in the focus on finding the right answer.

An ODE newsletter sent last week advertises a Feb. 21 "Pathway to Math Equity Micro-Course," which is designed for middle school teachers to make use of a toolkit for "dismantling racism in mathematics." The event website identifies the event as a partnership between California's San Mateo County Office of Education, The Education Trust-West and others.

Part of the toolkit includes a list of ways "white supremacy culture" allegedly "infiltrates math classrooms." Those include "the focus is on getting the 'right' answer," students being "required to 'show their work,'" and other alleged manifestations.

"The concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false, and teaching it is even much less so," the document for the "Equitable Math" toolkit reads. "Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict."

More at the LINKY

NEXT TO GO? Spelling?
After that: Thinking is White Privilege.

Do the Dems still insist they are the party of science?

February 12, 2021, 12:09 PM

joel9507

If your arguments lack logic, and you're limited by your lack of math skills, then you have two choices:

1) Study hard and learn math and logic, or

2) Pretend they don't exist and/or don't matter.

Reality is, and math and logic help you deal with it.

In Fantasyland, though, anything goes. So, why study and learn, if you can profitably pretend to live in Fantasyland and have other people's money protect you from reality?

February 12, 2021, 12:11 PM

signewt

I was advised long ago by my math teachers, that getting the right answer IS the goal.

February 12, 2021, 12:15 PM

Yanert98

Well Damn.... I just spent 2hrs last night working with my kids on getting the right answer AND showing your work.

I'm certainly headed to the re-education camps.

February 12, 2021, 12:19 PM

cgode

Well shit....not long ago came along common core math and now this???? I can’t keep up!

February 12, 2021, 12:21 PM

WaterburyBob

Then how are all the drug dealers going to know what to charge their clients and how much their percentage is?

February 12, 2021, 12:27 PM

Shaql

When calculating their paycheck, I wonder if those bureaucrats are worried about whether the accountant gets the correct answer or whether they just "understand what they're doing".

As a trained engineer, I find this whole thing so laughable. I tell my kids: Math is easy. There is only 1 correct answer and you know when you have it because you can prove it. Once you understand the concepts and how to apply them (they real learning in math), math is quite simple.

February 12, 2021, 12:28 PM

sigspecops

You can't make this up, we live in a parody

February 12, 2021, 12:35 PM

k5blazer

I wonder what Jaime Escalante would have thought of this?

February 12, 2021, 12:36 PM

Ripley

quote:
Originally posted by sigfreund:
“The important thing is to understand what you’re doing rather than to get the right answer.”

Tom Lehrer: The New Math (1965)

I think my suburban Chicago jr. high school was among the first adopters of the New Math. It was made to be a big deal, we were to be thankful being the lucky ones. The only thing I remember about it was Venn diagrams, no idea what we were supposed to do with that notion.

We moved to Southern Illinois two days into the start of my freshman year of high school. So everyone was two days up on me in algebra.

I had zero idea what was expected of me when faced with x+2=4, x=?. I spent that hour panicked, lost at sea. When I finally got it, I was pissed knowing New Math had led me so far astray.

February 12, 2021, 12:40 PM

Scoutmaster

Earlier this week I had a tricky angle cut in some woodwork, ended up making some measurements and using trigonometry to figure just where to set the saw blade.

So now that I know the math answer doesn't matter, I could have set the saw blade anywhere and the board would still fit.

I guess I wasted a lot of time.

February 12, 2021, 12:59 PM

konata88

Yup, let's have them remember this when these idiots program self-driving cars, program pace makers, plan shuttle trips from earth to space stations.

Close enough is good enough, right?

Humans will not die from natural disasters or pollution or starvation or disease. We're going to die because the new idiots 'missed it by that much.'

February 12, 2021, 01:03 PM

cne32507

quote:
Originally posted by Scoutmaster:
Earlier this week I had a tricky angle cut in some woodwork, ended up making some measurements and using trigonometry to figure just where to set the saw blade.

So now that I know the math answer doesn't matter, I could have set the saw blade anywhere and the board would still fit.

I guess I wasted a lot of time.

"the board would still fit" You're still being racist: the board fits if I say it does; there are no "right" answers

February 12, 2021, 01:08 PM

az4783054

what isn't 'offensive' or 'racist' these days?

February 12, 2021, 01:16 PM

nhtagmember

quote:
Originally posted by cgode:
Well shit....not long ago came along common core math and now this???? I can’t keep up!

What they have done is dumbed down common core (common crap) even further.

If you want your kids to get an education it’s best to avoid public schools. Apparently they hire the low hanging fruit - most of which is apparently rotting on the tree

February 12, 2021, 01:31 PM

sigfreund

quote:
Originally posted by Scoutmaster:
using trigonometry

I use trigonometry and algebra fairly regularly, if not frequently, 50+ years after having studied them in school. And an obvious fact is that “I never use that stuff” is meaningless coming from someone who never learned them in the first place.