Tuesday, July 30, 2019

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS MATH-EDUCATION PROFESSOR: ‘Mathematics Itself Operates as Whiteness’.
A math-education professor at the University of Illinois wrote about some of the more racist aspects of math in a new anthology for teachers, arguing that “mathematics itself operates as Whiteness.”

“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,” Rochelle Gutierrez wrote, according to an article in Campus Reform.

Confused? Think that math is just math? Well, you’re wrong; math might as well be called “white math,” because as Gutierrez explained, “curricula emphasizing terms like Pythagorean theorem and pi perpetuate a perception that mathematics was largely developed by Greeks and other Europeans.”

As further evidence of her argument, Gutierrez added that more white than nonwhite people are math professors and that math professors often benefit from “unearned privilege” — getting more grants and more respect than other professors — just because they are math professors and not professors in another academic field.

“Are we really that smart just because we do mathematics?” she asked.
As an answer to that question, I'm reminded of one of my engineering professors who was claimed to have said that two of his students dropped out of the College of Engineering, transferred to the College of Education, and raised the average IQ's of both colleges.

More here and here for your edification.

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