Is math racist?

Discussion in 'The Red Room' started by Rimjob Bob, Mar 1, 2021.

  1. Rimjob Bob

    Rimjob Bob Classy Fellow

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2008
    Messages:
    10,765
    Location:
    Communist Utopia
    Ratings:
    +18,612
    • Angry Angry x 1
  2. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2014
    Messages:
    37,516
    Location:
    Beyond the Silver Rainbow
    Ratings:
    +26,927
    Well, that is a minefield.

    There is a reality that they have attempted to teach math in different ways because different student cognate the functions of math in different ways. The result of this development was called common core. KABOOM! conservative heads explode because their brains are not made for understanding multiple methods of getting an answer. (This is actually proven and I can cite the studies if you want to be insulted) Really all common core does is teach multiple ways of looking at the transfer of units to accommodate students who learn differently. Educators already know this, and the ideas of cultural difficulties with mathmatics are stressed in teaching curriculum in modern colleges.

    This is not a new thing. Dimwitted parents do not understand their children's common core assignments and then get all up in arms about liberals trying to indoctrinate children into something, when really it is liberals trying improved methods to reach more students.

    The next aspect i find to be a complete load of bullshit is that school is somehow penalizing kids for doing the work, and supporting kids who can just get the right answer and move on. This is different on standardized tests which do not credit for the attempt to do work. However, in the class the teacher will often credit students who do the long work on tests even though they might come up with the wrong answer.

    I have mixed feelings on that. On one hand you have to build the abilities of certain students to do the math, and the busy work drawn out writing of the problem is the base they have to build. OTOH I used to blow away standardized testing because I got the correct answer with a lot of it done in my head, and I also had poor grades on math tests where I had no desire to do the long work for an extra couple of points.

    I am sorry to the lesser students but math is one area where the right answer is not debatable, and if you do the long work and still get the wrong answer you are failing to be able to do math. It is not like writing a book report or regurgitating history where you could get some parts right and wrong, or there is a debate about the meanings of certain things. 2+2=4. It does not equal anything else. Sciences are based upon numbers being a constant. If you do not get the building blocks of math right you are wrong in anything based on it. Eventually, you have to come down to whether or not a student can perform math and get the correct result. If they cannot then they fail. Yes, a teacher is educated in different methods and attempts to understand the child and come up with ways to teach them differently so they understand, but the grades in class do mean something and if you cannot do the work you should not advance.

    There is nothing like sitting through chemistry or biology in college and having some dumbfuck in the front have to take class time asking the teacher how to add. That shit should have been covered already. If you do not get it than get out of other classes until you can understand some of the basic building blocks of science and technology.
    • TL;DR TL;DR x 2
  3. Lanzman

    Lanzman Vast, Cool and Unsympathetic Formerly Important

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2004
    Messages:
    35,172
    Location:
    Someplace high and cold
    Ratings:
    +36,652
    The way I do math in my head is pretty close to how it's taught in the "common core" method. The way I do it on paper is the way I was taught in school, which is different. But as Terererererererun says, 2+2=4 no matter how you get there. Math itself is not racist, it's about the most objective thing there is. Teaching methods can be racist, even if not deliberately so.
    • Agree Agree x 3
  4. steve2^4

    steve2^4 Aged Meat

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2004
    Messages:
    15,839
    Location:
    Dead and Loving It
    Ratings:
    +13,927
    the way I do math is with a calculator.

    Algebra and calc on the other hand I don't do since school.

    Remind me what this thread is about?
    • Funny Funny x 2
    • Love Love x 1
  5. Demiurge

    Demiurge Goodbye and Hello, as always.

    Joined:
    May 5, 2004
    Messages:
    23,303
    Ratings:
    +22,415

    Attached Files:

    • Thank You! Thank You! x 1
  6. Demiurge

    Demiurge Goodbye and Hello, as always.

    Joined:
    May 5, 2004
    Messages:
    23,303
    Ratings:
    +22,415
    My personal favorite:

    White supremacy culture shows up in math classrooms when... “Good” math teaching is considered an antidote for mathematical inequity for Black, Latinx, multilingual students. Instead... This reinforces either/or thinking by reinforcing stereotypes about the type of mathematical education that certain groups of students receive. It allows the defensiveness of Western mathematics to prevail, without addressing underlying causes of why certain groups of students are “underperforming,” a characterization that should also be interrogated. It also presupposes that “good” math teaching is about a Eurocentric type of mathematics, devoid of cultural ways of being.

    You know, because your culture depends on if the math is right. And of course math as it exists now is an expression of multiple cultures, with Hindi, Greek, and Arabic mathematicians forming the foundation of 'western' math.
    • Facepalm Facepalm x 1
  7. Damar

    Damar Liberal Elitist

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    1,669
    Location:
    FL
    Ratings:
    +2,953
    Laurence Fishburne already addressed this in Boyz n the Hood. Math is universal.
    • Agree Agree x 2
  8. The Original Faceman

    The Original Faceman Lasagna Artist

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    40,848
    Ratings:
    +28,810
    Herman Cain, avid Republican and current dead guy, once touted the nine nine nine plan. And what is the 999 plan? It’s a way to tax everyone that disproportionately favors the rich and white while punishing the poor minorities.

    But wait there’s more. The ninth letter of the alphabet is K. And so, roughly translated, his racist tax plan is KKK.

    Coincidence? Or confusion?
    • Funny Funny x 7
  9. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2014
    Messages:
    37,516
    Location:
    Beyond the Silver Rainbow
    Ratings:
    +26,927
    Just to let you know the ninth letter in the alphabet would be i. You could actually have easily counted that before posting such idiocy. Where did you get that joke from?
    • TL;DR TL;DR x 1
  10. K.

    K. Sober

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    27,298
    Ratings:
    +31,281
    Mathematics is indeed universal. Which is why the opposition to teaching it in an equitable fashion is so transparently partisan.
    • Agree Agree x 1
  11. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2014
    Messages:
    37,516
    Location:
    Beyond the Silver Rainbow
    Ratings:
    +26,927
    here is my math formula.

    Dividing by zero = god

    It works because god cannot be defined at this point of the equation.
    • popcorn popcorn x 1
    • TL;DR TL;DR x 1
  12. Demiurge

    Demiurge Goodbye and Hello, as always.

    Joined:
    May 5, 2004
    Messages:
    23,303
    Ratings:
    +22,415
    And how is it not being taught equitably in US schools?

    The teaching is fine, it's the resource distribution that's clearly a problem. Doing a math proof is not 'white supremacy', not having adequate facilities may be.
    • Agree Agree x 2
  13. Quincunx

    Quincunx anti-anti Staff Member Administrator

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2004
    Messages:
    20,211
    Location:
    U.S.A.
    Ratings:
    +24,062
    “Math is racist because there is one right answer” reads like a parody, or maybe one of those hoax academic jargon papers that occasionally get published. I don’t see how it’s significant that this was “Bill Gates funded” either. He just happens to sponsor a lot of education programs, so no surprise if one or two turn out to be screwy in some way.
    • Agree Agree x 1
  14. K.

    K. Sober

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    27,298
    Ratings:
    +31,281
    And indeed it is a parody. What the group is actually criticizing is so unwelcome that Newsweek decided to quote several parodies BEFORE ever, and ever only partially, explaining what they actually said.
    • Thank You! Thank You! x 1
  15. Demiurge

    Demiurge Goodbye and Hello, as always.

    Joined:
    May 5, 2004
    Messages:
    23,303
    Ratings:
    +22,415
    You might have noticed that I posted direct excerpts and the source material itself. That has nothing to do with the manner on which it was reported on. It exists as a thing unto itself.

    Once again, how is math not being taught equitably in US schools? How is teaching math in the manner white supremacy? Again, it is the teaching that is at issue here, and explicitly criticized.

    Anyone have an actual answer to this?
  16. Steal Your Face

    Steal Your Face Anti-Federalist

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2013
    Messages:
    47,727
    Ratings:
    +31,716
    • Agree Agree x 1
  17. K.

    K. Sober

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    27,298
    Ratings:
    +31,281
    I have never seen a US school from the inside. But "Maths is universal, therefore no maths lessons are bad" is obvious bullshit. "This group has said our maths lessons are bad, and here are some parodies of their argument rather than their actual statements" is obvious avoidance.
    • Agree Agree x 1
  18. RickDeckard

    RickDeckard Socialist

    Joined:
    May 28, 2004
    Messages:
    37,813
    Location:
    Ireland
    Ratings:
    +32,367
    I dunno. Maybe we'll find some anti-Semitic statements hidden somewhere in the Mandelbrot Set...
    • Agree Agree x 2
  19. Diacanu

    Diacanu Comicmike. Writer

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    101,428
    Ratings:
    +82,260
    No, but my math teacher was.
    Okay, he wasn't MY math teacher, he was my study hall teacher, but he taught math.
  20. The Original Faceman

    The Original Faceman Lasagna Artist

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    40,848
    Ratings:
    +28,810
    Pretty sure you’re wrong.
  21. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2014
    Messages:
    37,516
    Location:
    Beyond the Silver Rainbow
    Ratings:
    +26,927
    Do the math Qanon.
  22. The Original Faceman

    The Original Faceman Lasagna Artist

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    40,848
    Ratings:
    +28,810
    I did. I got it right. I’m pretty sure you’re an uneducated muppet. I’m not listening to you try to mathsplain me.
  23. NAHTMMM

    NAHTMMM Perpetually sondering

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    14,692
    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Ratings:
    +9,890
    Bored Lawyer Wins Court Case Defining K As Ninth Letter Of English Alphabet
    • Funny Funny x 3
  24. NAHTMMM

    NAHTMMM Perpetually sondering

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    14,692
    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Ratings:
    +9,890
    Well that's how you're gonna get graded on college physics tests. Fourteen points for showing your work, one point for writing down the correct answer.
    • Agree Agree x 2
  25. Asyncritus

    Asyncritus Expert on everything

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2004
    Messages:
    21,506
    Location:
    Stuck at home most of the time. :(
    Ratings:
    +23,236
    My work:

    Try to solve the problem, come up with a wrong answer (it doesn't matter which one), multiply by zero, and add the correct answer.

    It works, every time. :async:
    • Funny Funny x 1
    • popcorn popcorn x 1
  26. Fisherman's Worf

    Fisherman's Worf I am the Seaman, I am the Walrus, Qu-Qu-Qapla'!

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2004
    Messages:
    30,587
    Ratings:
    +42,977
    I is the 9th letter, and K is the 11th letter. I think what @Faceman is getting at is that Herman Cain was trying to warn us about 9/11-9/11-9/11, in other words an event three times worse than 9/11. The current COVID death toll from CPAC 2020 alone is around 9,000 which works out to three times the number of deaths from 9/11. Coincidence? I think not. That's just plain math.
    • popcorn popcorn x 5
    • Agree Agree x 1
  27. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2014
    Messages:
    37,516
    Location:
    Beyond the Silver Rainbow
    Ratings:
    +26,927
    How many drugs did you have to do to get that good at stupid?
  28. Fisherman's Worf

    Fisherman's Worf I am the Seaman, I am the Walrus, Qu-Qu-Qapla'!

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2004
    Messages:
    30,587
    Ratings:
    +42,977
    I print out your posts, blend them up, and then inject them straight into my veins.
    • Funny Funny x 3
  29. We Are Borg

    We Are Borg Republican Democrat

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2004
    Messages:
    21,548
    Location:
    Canada
    Ratings:
    +36,513
    Math is totally racist.

    I want to know why all those Asian kids kicked my ass in high school math class.

    :bailey:
    • Funny Funny x 2
  30. NAHTMMM

    NAHTMMM Perpetually sondering

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2004
    Messages:
    14,692
    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Ratings:
    +9,890
    They beat you up because they knew what your kewl Japanese tattoo actually meant.
    • Funny Funny x 2