A University of Illinois math professor has suggested we quit teaching math in the public schools because it perpetuates white privilege, and is designed to give white people an advantage. Source: American Web Media
@Ken Anderson One can only wonder whether this fool realizes that anyone mastering Math stands a good chance of gaining privilege? His mind must be a swarm of "unknowns". Frank
Now, if the good professor asked that math not be taught in the private or home sectors then there might be some kind of weird validity to the base statement. Indeed, there are more Caucasians than those of color in private schools. if only by virtue that there are substantially more Caucasians within the total populous of the U.S.A. If perhaps she used the private sector within the position she has on the privileged, there might be some idiotic merit to the statement. Since government schools have an across the board population in regard to race, how then can she justify her statement? Can the professor's statement be a personal observation that Caucasians are somehow so privileged as to be more intelligent than people of color? Now that I have made my own observations based on a single sentence, it might be time that I read the entire statement, although I doubt if I will find anything that might give a little hope for the marginally educated cretin in question. Okay, I read the article in it's entirety. Gutierez (spelling) is indeed entitled to her opinion and within that context, so am I but me thinks that I shall endeavor to be a bit more kind than I originally had thoughts of doing by describing her intelligence and reasoning level as inadequate.
She seems to be implying that black people aren't smart enough to learn math. That is, I think, the underlying attitude of a lot of what we're hearing lately, particularly from white people who believe they're advocating for black people. For example, when you argue that voter ID laws disenfranchise black people, what you saying, if not that black people aren't smart enough to figure out how to get an ID?
Precisely one of my points. if the whole scenario were to be pointed toward a singular student then we could say that that student was lacking the intelligence to perform a particular task or tasks. But, we wouldn't stop teaching the other students for the mental deficiencies of one. (even though the bell curve is a pretty close second to not learning or teaching) But when a whole race of people are attached to that same statement then the whole race is deemed to be slower or less intelligent than it's Caucasian counterpart. The whole thing does not say a whole lot about those people of color who have excelled in math and other complicated studies but instead gives rise that those who have excelled are doing so by some unmerited favor.
Yes, that parallels my other example too. If there is a state office somewhere that refuses to issue identification cards to black people, which is highly unlikely, then we should be dealing with that rather than discarding the reasonable idea of requiring identification. What's next? Are we not going to allow anyone to require a high school diploma or a college degree for a job because these requirements give an advantage to one race over another? If there are fewer black people graduating than white people, maybe we should close the schools so that everyone is equally uneducated. The black people who I am familiar with, including members of my own family, are every bit as intelligent and capable as anyone else.
I am beginning to sense an oxymoron type of hypocrisy with the whole "white privilege" arena. Self fulfillment is one of the mainstays of all human existence no matter the race. If we say that Black people in general are not comfortable with a higher education and cannot be made content by the learning of it, then the very classroom by itself could be deemed as a sort of oppression. On the other hand, if the person of color does not learn, he or she opens themselves up for another, more abrupt type of oppression and will be ruled by those who have a higher learning experience. ( i.e. the Al Sharptons of the world.) The same applies to voter I.D. It is taken as being some sort of oppressive state that blacks en masse must face at the hands of their oppressors, the Caucasians. In actuality, for a whole race to accept that they are somehow being extraordinarily put upon by conforming to that which would help them with equality is lunacy at best. "Infinitus est numerous stultorum" Infinite is the number of fools.
I read that and passed it off as some educated kook who has probably drawn a misguided inference from some personal experience she or someone she knew had encountered.
Which might make one wonder what it was that so influenced the professor to BE a math instructor if it was so difficult for people of color to learn? Or, is she indicating that it is only the black race which cannot fathom the concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division? If so, is she then psychologically bowing to some supposed supreme intellect by indicating that Caucasians are more mentally acute in academia? To me, it is like telling the lead in a race to stop racing because those who follow cannot keep up or cannot run at all.
Well yes it is or telling those lagging behind there is no use racing because it is rigged against you; someone else is going to win. Everything today is seen as white privileges it seems. Of course that merely myopinion.
"Equally Un-educated". Interesting and thought-provoking phrase. Akin to "Developmentally Challenged" if a kid is shorter than average height, or "Mechanically Challenged" when my car takes a "dump" along the roadside. "Prophetically-denied". My own term used in summation of it all. Frank
When I read the News article I knew I would find that the Teacher was not talking about regular "math" such as addition, subtraction, division, and multiplying. Caucasians and many other races graduate from High School and College not being able to do these things to balance check books, pay bills, etc. As far as these other maths that are not necessary to everyday normal lives for the most part...my opinion is there is some truth to what the teacher says...but that truth should extent to every race and not just the blacks. Where we differ is that I don't think these "other maths" should be mandatory for all students...whereas what I call "everyday math" such as addition, etc. should be. The "other maths" should be offered and even be mandatory to the fields that such math is needed in such as Chemists, Doctors, Scientists, Biologists, etc. Where the Teacher is definitely wrong in my opinion is to not include all races in her opinion and to basically say that all math should not be taught. Part of the problem with education now days is that teaching needs to go back to the basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, grammer, etc. Many students now days graduate without knowing the basics of any of these subjects. Maybe this Teacher should not be teaching math instead of saying math should not be taught.
Why bring race into it at all? Given that race was the focus of her article, the point that she was making, without intending to, was that she doesn't believe that black people are as capable of learning as white people, or that white people have an advantage. I am white, and I have the DNA test to prove it, yet I had difficulty in both of the algebra classes that I took in high school, and algebra does have real-world applications, and I was even more lost in geometry, and dropped out of trigonometry after the second day. However someone might view their own racial thoughts, whenever you assume that one race is more capable than the other, you are being racist. In some cases, you might even be correct, but you are still being racist. Liberals like to think that they are exempt from that label even as their assumptions are racist.