Math must be decolonized. ETHNOMATHMATICS is the way.

Steps forward.

China laughs at this stuff.

Modern mathematics incorporates theories and systems from Europe, The Middle East, India, and East Asia. It has never been the sole purview of 'white people'. Me thinks some groups feel embarrassed by their lack of success in mathematics and need to come up with elaborate excuses to hide their shame.

If I were conspiracy theorist, I'd say this was being peddled by Chinese interests, in order to ensure that Americans are forcibly kept stupid so that they can't compete with China.

I might even trot out that famous maxim from the book 1984 --2+2=5.

If I were a committed leftist, I'd wonder why the supposed antiracists are basically openly saying that black kids are too dumb to do math.

But I'm a good NPR-listening liberal, so I guess I'll say "Yay! Numbers are racist! Down with wypipo and their so-called 'numbers'!"

I genuinely can't follow the logic here. Mathematics is the one area of study that's completely objective, surely?

Arithmebonimatics?

I can see there being racism in the way in which math is taught, as in, poorer students and/or POC students not being given the same opportunities/attention in math education in the same or similar way that math and science education has a history of discriminating against girls. That doesn't mean that the content is biased though... and how the hell does 2 + 2 = 5?

It's called equity, people.

Is this an ONION piece?

It's real, and it's working. People are learning math in new ways and it's great.

Fun fact: the formal proof (using mathematical logic) to 1 + 1 = 2 is about a page long.

Don't force math on people who don't have the aptitude for it.

[bold]Well meaning people, often with too much money and time on their hands, are the ones doing this. Things like this are reported as if there is some kind of wide spread demand for it but there isn't, just like there wasn't a demand for movies and TV show episodes like the Golden Girls mud mask episode to be pulled. People at schools and businesses are so afraid of blemished reputations & losing their livelihoods that they do ridiculous things like this to stay ahead of cancel culture. Only a fraction of a percentage of the population actually want this yet people like the OP promote these ideas as if there is some big push for it and of course people with racial, ethnic or class biases eat it up. How can rational any person not understand this?[/bold]

Oregon is leading the way.

Ebonics meets mathematics. Just another excuse to legitimize under-performance and sheer stupidity. Here go the midterms...

It’s racist and wrong for them to essentially say black people cant do math so we have to change the standards. The leftists are the racists here

The swing state voters Dems need are laughing their heads off at this stuff.

Think "knowing" over "calculating". It's just different for certain cultures, and that needs to be accepted, and education adapted for everyone.

They act as if colonization is a bad thing.

China is trying to teach Western mathematics to their own children. When will they learn....

And don't say "well, look at their tech advances". That's ALL STOLEN from Western countries.

Math was stolen by Western culture, and math as taught today is fundamentally unfair and racist.

EQUITY.

So many closed-minded boomers. Ugh.

Keep reaching for a lower common denominator ... pretty soon we will rolling in pig slop and living in caves and then the glorious dream of equality will be realized.

China can't take over soon enough from this sad lost country.

^ that lady is a total quack in that video

[quote] China can't take over soon enough from this sad lost country.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd say you're Ling Ling trying to frustrate solutions to the division in this country. Learned minds from other cultures (aboriginal, African, etc.) are offering solutions, and they're immediately discredited. Put on the lens of equity for once.

[quote]Centering ethnomathematics asks teachers to, “Identify and challenge the ways that math is used to uphold capitalist, imperialist, and racist views.”

The irony of the Gates Foundation saying that we need to stop using math lessons in school to uphold capitalist ideals.

My dad was a math teacher and he used to go out of his way to create new worksheets that took out math problems that had an agenda, which was surprisingly often. There would be a word problem that would say something like "Lucy has five apples. Bobby is poor, so he only has one apple" and dad hated those because they were distractions. The students would always say something like "Maybe Bobby just wants one apple, for crying out loud" and start arguing about whether it was rude to call Bobby poor or not.

By the time I was taking standardized tests in the early 1990s, our testing coaches were specifically telling us to watch for math problems with these kinds of "stories" embedded in them, they were "old-fashioned and distracting." We were taught to quickly reduce the problem down to the bare essential information and disregard the rest.

As an adult, I look back on these things and realize how inappropriate they are. I agree that math classes need to be neutral, not pushing weird ideas like "if someone only has one apple, they're poor."

But the Gates Foundation of all places putting their ill-gotten money into revamping math programs in the U.S.? I can't imagine THAT is going to help ANYTHING.

Immerse yourself in it, and you'll see it makes sense and it's all tied together.

[quote]China can't take over soon enough from this sad lost country.

Propaganda can be pretty obvious sometimes.

All this "It's China trying to ruin us, they want to take us over, we're awful so maybe they should take us over" crap is preposterous. I hope no DL regulars are saying any of that shit.

JFC, someone tell me what this means? OP's post is a mess and I'm not watching youtube videos.

Crackpot antiscience fools love Youtube videos.

Crackpot antiscience, R32? The GATES FOUNDATION is supportive of ethnomathmatics. Get with it.

^Receipts?

I'm white and had horrible math teachers (who were white). A couple seemed deliberately obtuse, skipping important parts of what they were explaining. Other whites would get tutoring after school (and keep it on the DL) that my parents wouldn't have been able to afford anyway.

Back in the day, we didn't have online resources like we do now to supplement shitty teaching.

R34, see the Gates Foundation study quoted at OP.

R34

R34

[quote] A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction is an integrated approach to mathematics that centers Black, Latinx, and Multilingual students in grades 6-8, addresses barriers to math equity, and aligns instruction to grade-level priority standards. The Pathway offers guidance and resources for educators to use now as they plan their curriculum, while also offering opportunities for ongoing self-reflection as they seek to develop an anti-racist math practice. The toolkit “strides” serve as multiple on-ramps for educators as they navigate the individual and collective journey from equity to anti-racism.

[quote] We also wish to thank the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for their generous financial support of this project.

[quote] The Pathway offers guidance and resources for educators to use now as they plan their curriculum, while also offering opportunities for ongoing self-reflection as they seek to develop an anti-racist math practice. The toolkit “strides” serve as multiple on-ramps for educators as they navigate the individual and collective journey from equity to anti-racism.

This has nothing to do with education and everything to do with social conditioning.

I've scanned through some of the articles posted in this thread in an attempt to get a better understanding of this but all I see is a bunch or word salad, actually, many word salads. The only thing that seems to be clear is this: white is bad.

[quote] A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction is an integrated approach to mathematics that centers Black, Latinx, and Multilingual students in grades 6-8

Um, what about other cultures? Middle Eastern? Asian? South Asian?

R26

[quote]The swing state voters Dems need are laughing their heads off at this stuff.

I wish they were just laughing it off. But I think it enrages them -- to an irrational degree, given how marginalized such views currently are, yet it will compel them to vote against their best interests in all other areas of life just to quell "this stuff."

R43, is critical race theory marginalized? No: it's mainstream now. Ethnomathmatics is a product of the lens of critical race theory.

Not saying I do/don't support it, but I am saying that it's not a marginal thing. Though I do agree that flyovers don't need to be concerned with it, as it's not currently being discussed in their states.

Oh yeah, let's blame China for this, too. Please. This is a product of America, full stop. And if proves successful, no one will be blaming China: we'll be celebrating the AMERICAN scholars who are developing and implementing these solutions.

And then China will steal it, as they've stolen everything they have from us.

I remember a course in college entitled God Exists Because Mathematics Is Consistent…Does anyone here want to go under the knife of a surgeon who got there by “equitable outcomes”?…

If DeShawn steals a car at point A and needs to bring it to the chopshop which is 137 miles away. He is driving at 55 miles an hour. How long will it take DeShawn to reach his destination ?

Aren’t they really just saying there is more than one way to think about what “2” is?

Apparently, these people aren't great with history either. Math was invented by the Moors, who had dark skin.

Moops

R49 has never heard of the Pythagoras. Or Archemides.

They certainly know math when it comes to figuring out their welfare checks

When a group believes pursuing lnowledge and developing one's intellect and abilities is "White" let's just say the lower the expectations the better.

"If L'vonda got 15 minutes left on her pre-paid plan, and she promise to pick up her kids at Grandma's at 10, but she stay out at the club till 4, and she can't cash her check because she done left her I.D. on a hotplate, and the rent is due in 3 days, but she 40 dollars short, but Tyrese owes her 30, but he don't get his check till the 20th, then how much she can spend on QVC if she trade 50 dollar off her food stamp card for a 25 dollar gift card at Chili's, then trade that for 10 dollars cash, and split the difference on her roommate's debit card (and tell Ronetta that D'shawn took it 'cause he always doin' shit like that), and, taking into account the 3 easy payments and free shipping, how many days do you wait before canceling payment to make sure you get both the faux-suede leopard pumps delivered and the refund?

A. 1 Day B. 2 Days C. 3 Days D. My minutes ran out; can't catch a break!

I hope Mediapolis is happy that Datalounge is now Stormfront Plus Occasional Gay Porn.

[quote] Aren’t they really just saying there is more than one way to think about what “2” is?

Ok, explain to us the different ways to think about what "2" is.

[quote]When a group believes pursuing lnowledge and developing one's intellect and abilities is "White" let's just say the lower the expectations the better.

This is a major problem in the black community, and they'll never get ahead if they don't confront this.

Wow. R54

Just wow.

When you can’t compete but you still want equal results, then the only way is to dumb down the process. In doing so, you get equitable outcomes you so desired, but then you get new sets of problems arising from this sort of race-based social engineering.

We’re already seeing these dictates easing into medicine/ healthcare professions education.

A pack of Newport cost eleven dollar and fiddy cent. Tyrone only have nine dollar and firdy cent. How much mo' green do Tyrone need so he can gets dat pack o' Newport, son?

This is an attempt to achieve equity in STEM. Unfortunately Asian and white ethnic groups will continue to way outperform BIPOC (non Asian.) Next step quotas to study certain subjects. Still not going to work.

Debate must also be decolonized.

Inequality based on race and income is an established fact in the U.S. school system. It can be fixed but it would require money, lots of time, and school boards that weren't controlled by national political concerns. It would also require a country where there weren't tens of millions of shitheads who believe racist propaganda about blacks all being dumb and America is being dragged down by their Negroid stupidity.

None of that is ever going to happen.

Shanella need Pampers for the baby. She call her Babydaddy Tyrese and tell him to stop at C Town to get some. She tell Tyrese that Pampers cost forty dollar. Tyrese say he spent his last forty at the chop shop. Shanella cuss him out and say the chop shop is bullshit, he spent his last forty on wee. Tyrese say he tellin' the truth but he just found a twenty and forty seven cent and he can swing by and get the rest of the money from Shanella to but the Pampers.

How much money do Shanella need to give Tyrese to get the Pampers?

a) Twenty dollar firdy cent

b) Nineteen dollar firdy cent

c) Ninteen dollar fiddy three cent

d) Don't give Tyrese no mo' money you need to walk away from that nigga

They are basically saying the same things the racists did during Jim Crow. POC aren't capable of understanding math, or debate, etc. Only now instead of saying they should therefore be treated as inferior, these "neo-racists" argue we should just accept their limitations and reduce all of society to their level.

BOTH ARGUMENTS ARE WRONG.

POC are NOT naturally inferior and can understand and find success with "western" concepts. It is just no one wants to talk about the real causes of inequality. It is not because of inborn racial characteristics.

Read the room, R64/60/54.

Some uppity white bitch tell Shanella she need to read the room. Shanella call La Shonda and tell her what the uppity white bitch said to her. La Shonda tell Shanella to let her know where she at so she can get down there and cuss out that uppity white bitch.

R65, yes, it is in fact Jim Crow, and it is done for the same purpose: So dominant whites can continue to dominate, all the while telling those under their heels that "it's for their own good."

Because if you don't understand math, you will get fucked hard throughout your life by people who DO understand math and can screw you without your ever knowing. It happens every day to POC, and also to poor, undereducated whites. (Just as during Jim Crow, no one gives a fuck what happens to the "white trash" underclass.)

Smart people will have to teach their own kids math; rich people will put them in schools that do a lot of performative handwringing about "white supremacy," but teach actual math, history, etc.

The children of the rich (including Gates' kids) will never be taught this horseshit. Great-grandpapa worked hard to buy that estate in Newport. "Aboriginal concepts of math" would ensure it would be repossessed about 2 weeks after being inherited.

It could also include the personal responsibility to do the work/study required to excel and meet standards of excellence, rather than lower the standards to meet equitable outcomes, r63…

Just have quotas for education and employment. Simple.

Didn't Wu-Tang Clan do something similar with this? RZA wrote about the math behind "36 Chambers" in the "Wu-Tang Manual."

Billions have already been spent to achieve equity in education. See No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top which was Obama’s program. Remember him? All that dough has done little if anything to alter outcomes. I think the current thinking is since we can’t get BIPOC kids to the levels of white and Asian achievement, we’ll just stop testing. Also abolish all gifted and talented programs and schools where you need to pass a test to enter. Problem solved.

R72, that's because educational success begins with the culture taught in the home and extended family, from birth. There are innumerable POC who have been incredibly successful in school, and virtually every single one had someone in their life that prodded them, encouraged them, and let them know that slacking off was not acceptable.

The kids that are turning schools into jungles -- and they are not all POC by any means -- are people that don't have that support and encouragement at home. They don't want to learn because they don't value educational achievement, and neither do their families and cultures.

R2 is a troll who links to Fox News

OP is probably a freeper who squeals about "critical race theory" without being able to define it

[quote] she can't cash her check because she done left her I.D. on a hotplate

!!

If this helps kids who otherwise might be turned off of math, I think it is a great idea.

R73 so true I worked in a low income after school program, many of the black kids were told by their families not to care about education because “that’s white people shit” and the white ones were told by their families to not and try to “get above their raisin.”

It really does start in the home, my family isn’t wealthy but they indulged and encouraged my interest in museums, the theatre, and books. It doesn’t cost much money, you just have to care.

We are in a race between education and catastrophe.

A total burden on civilized, educated society. Always have been and always will be.

Creating different games will not level the playing field.

Gates is a disgusting, lucky Aspie asshole- his lawyers refused to let him testify in his antitrust case as he would immediately lose, he is so purely snide, inhuman and repugnant.

Why is he trying to create a definitive underclass? Why is he buying so much land in middle America? And why did his daughter marry a foreigner?

He has some sort of fucked up vision for this country that we absolutely should not allow.

Utter horseshit!

[quote] A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction is an integrated approach to mathematics that centers Black, Latinx, and Multilingual students in grades 6-8, addresses barriers to math equity, and aligns instruction to grade-level priority standards.

Latinx? Jesus Christ.

[quote] The irony of the Gates Foundation saying that we need to stop using math lessons in school to uphold capitalist ideals.

My dad was a math teacher and he used to go out of his way to create new worksheets that took out math problems that had an agenda, which was surprisingly often. There would be a word problem that would say something like "Lucy has five apples. Bobby is poor, so he only has one apple" and dad hated those because they were distractions. The students would always say something like "Maybe Bobby just wants one apple, for crying out loud" and start arguing about whether it was rude to call Bobby poor or not.

So they’re advocating for communism? How did Bill Gates make his money to start a foundation??!

OMG, we’re turning a generation of children into pussies. They can’t cope with the word “poor” in a sentence? Christ.

On Broadway, they're now saying that it's white supremacy and literal slave-driving to expect POC actors to show up on time and perform eight shows a week. 🙄

Bill Gates doesn’t seem to have any hobbies or interests in life apart from controlling people.

Tell that to all the Asians who excel at math. Does that mean they're racially superior? Or maybe it has something to do with studying hard and valuing education? I wonder.

I've noticed that many black Americans want all the accolades and glory without having to work for it. At least not very hard.

Two bridges are built, one designed using traditional mathematics, and the other using "ethnomathematics." You're to be the first person to drive over either of the bridges. Which do you choose?

I live in California and I'm sending my kids to private school. I myself am a mathematician, and I don't want my kids exposed to this bullshit. I want them to learn real math.

Someone said above that China is laughing at this bullshit. That's absolutely true. We're shooting ourselves in the foot here. Science is science.

Has anybody check with Just Harry to see if he thinks it's bonkers?

If a train leaves Paris at 8am and travels 110 kmh and another train leaves Istanbul at 5 am and travels at 190 kmh is it racist for them to converge in Trieste?

R91, if the train is not festooned with BLM banners in and out, and if the train's operators have not made a very hefty recurring "donation" to BLM, then yes, it is racist.

^^ even if Ella Fitzgerald and Sammy Davis Jr. perform in the lounge car?

If the brick that Marsha P. Johnson threw moves along a straight-line path at a an average velocity of 2 m/s for 5 s and 7 m/s for [italic]t[/italic] seconds, what’s the average time it takes for said brick to smash the LITERAL VIOLENCE perpetuated against trans sex workers of color?

Either you have it or you don't. Not everyone does. Dumbing math down will be disastrous.

People with means will yank their kids out of public schools to home school or send to private ones. I do not blame them at this point.

r91 The trains and the railroad lines exist only because of a long history of racism, colonialism and exploitation of other cultures so YES it is a racist question! You're cancelled!

R4 I don’t care of everyone in China dies much less what they laugh at

You will care, r97, you will care.

I’m not the best mathematician in the world, but I’m glad I learned what math I did, and I do think it could be taught better. Having a biased teacher is an awful thing, and separate from the issue of how it’s taught. Anyone who has worked with someone who disliked them could testify to that. Benefits of math I was never taught in school but learned anyway, despite not being very bright: -it increases neuroplasticity and makes learning of all kinds easier -if practiced when the brain is being specialized, while maturing, it affects what connections end up being strengthened in the brain And downsides of math stereotypes that I also didn’t learn in school- -there’s more than one way to solve an arithmetic problem. For example, if you want to subtract a number from 10,000, you could phrase it as 9,999 minus whatever and then add one at the end. You don’t have to do the traditional borrowing method on paper, and in some cases it could be so tedious it distracts from what you’re really doing. Or if you have a problem holding multiple digits in your head, you could substitute 76 minus 26 with 80 minus 30 and maybe reach the right answer more easily without paper. Or if you’re adding 17 plus 90, think of it as 20 plus 90, minus 3. If you know what you struggle with, you can learn a way to make it easier, like with anything. Math isn’t a special category. - It is a way of communicating but also an internal component of communications that may not be objective. Consider the studies the salt industry put out to show that high sodium isn’t really so harmful. Studies are usually funded by someone with an interest in their outcome, and even though math can be used within studies to lend an air of objectivity, the actual data sources can be chosen and filtered to try to arrange an outcome beforehand. For example, studies show slightly overweight people live longer - no wonder, when so many illnesses (cancer, kidney failure) cause people to lose their appetites. Every piece of data has a context, so math without the use of other types of thought can be used in a manipulative way. - It’s full of metaphors and shorthand and would be clearer if spoken in non-math language if you’re talking to someone who hasn’t already learned it. “You are counting to five five times, and you make a tally mark each time, and then you count each tally mark - when you reach 25, that is five, five times.” But phrases like “5 x 5” are alien unless you know what they mean. It’s just a shorthand way of counting, a puzzle to keep your mind flexible, a way to know if you’ve hit a wrong key if you’re using a calculator. I’ll never be good enough at this type of thing to be in an IT job, but I’m glad I learned it. And I hope everyone gets a chance to. It shouldn’t be “IT mind or waste of space.”