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An article I previewed yesterday . . .<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve likely seen this reported elsewhere by now, a Seattle Public Schools \u201cMath Ethnic Studies Framework<\/a>\u201d that first made the rounds on twitter, as part of a curriculum of \u201cethnic studies.\u201d\u00a0 Subsequent to the document itself being shared, pundits jumped in to criticize it, such as radio talk show host Dori Monson, in an op ed<\/a>:<\/p>\n This is what happens when you allow radicals to take control of the schools. You start seeing problems where they cannot exist \u2014 like in the objective world of mathematics.<\/p>\n We\u2019re now reducing math to a divisive sociological issue \u2014 and that\u2019s the kind of reduction and division we don\u2019t want to be teaching.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n After which the local Seattle Times<\/em> wrote in defense<\/a>:<\/p>\n Seattle schools are in the process of developing ethnic-studies frameworks for different subjects, including social studies and art. . . .<\/p>\n In math, lessons are more theoretical. Seattle\u2019s recently released proposal includes questions like, \u201cWhere does Power and Oppression show up in our math experiences?\u201d and \u201cHow is math manipulated to allow inequality and oppression to persist?\u201d . . .<\/p>\n A 2016 Stanford University report looked at ethnic-studies classes in San Francisco high schools and found that attendance increased by 21% and GPA increased by 1.4 grade points. There were significant effects on GPA specific to math and science, the study said, and boys and Hispanic students improved the most.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen students can see themselves in curriculum and see diversity in curriculum, they respond better,\u201d Au said. \u201cAnd, it can help white students understand themselves better. Structural racism in the country has mistaught white people about themselves \u2014 that they don\u2019t have culture, that they don\u2019t have roots.\u201d<\/p>\n This mindset extends to mathematics and science, Castro-Gill said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are studies that talk about specifically black and brown students not being seen as scientists or mathematicians \u2026 It affects their efficacy, their ability to engage in that kind of learning,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s why identity is so core to math and science.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that the formulas and equations taught in current math classes are racist, Castro-Gill said \u2014 it\u2019s about how they\u2019re used in daily life.<\/p>\n \u201cNowhere in this document says that math is inherently racist,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s how math is used as a tool for oppression.\u201d<\/p>\n One example teachers might mention in an ethnic studies math class, she said, is how black voters in the South were given literacy and numeracy tests before they could cast their ballot. Another might be a lesson on ratios that discusses gaps in incarceration rates and how the weight of a type of drug determines the length of a sentence.<\/p>\n \u201cThe numbers are objective,\u201d she said, \u201cbut how we use it is not objective.\u201d<\/p>\n Classes might also talk about how different cultures have practiced math, such as how Aztecs used a base-20 number system, as opposed to the base-10 system Americans use.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So does this all simply mean that \u201cmath ethnic studies\u201d is unobjectionable?<\/p>\n The actual document belies this explanation, that it\u2019s all as harmless as story problems with a \u201csocial justice\u201d lens, or the use of math and statistics in an \u201cethnic studies\u201d elective.<\/p>\n Instead, it\u2019s a framework for viewing math as a part of culture, or, rather, cultures, with the same cultural-reclaiming and power-seeking agenda as for literature and history.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, it uses bad history, and the framework appears to simply fail to understand that mathematics is a set of skills that students need to learn in order to succeed as adults, both in employment and simply to manage their financial affairs, and that we as a country need the next generation to possess, in aggregate, the mathematical skills needed for our economy and our society to function and move forward, from nurses calculating correct dosages for medications to aerospace engineers building the next Mars lander and everything in-between.<\/p>\n There are four themes:<\/p>\n The first of these<\/strong> says:<\/p>\n Origins, Identity and Agency, as defined by ethnic studies, is the ways in which we \u200bview ourselves as mathematicians \u200b and members of broader mathematical communities. Mathematical theory and application is\u200b rooted in the ancient histories of people and empires of color.\u00a0 All human endeavors include mathematical thinking; from humanities to the arts to the sciences.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n No, no, no.<\/p>\n \u201cColor\u201d as understood by 21st century \u201cethnic theorists\u201d has nothing to do with the history of mathematical theory and application.\u00a0 Take a look at the Wikipedia articles on the history of arithmetic<\/a> and algebra<\/a>.\u00a0 One presumes the author of these words had in mind something like \u201cthe Romans were so stupid that they couldn\u2019t even do proper arithmetic with their Roman numerals, but the Arabs invented Arabic numbers and algebra.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, the Romans used an abacus for their calculations<\/a>.\u00a0 The Greeks had a positional notation system, including a zero<\/a>.\u00a0 It is indeed the case that the Indian system was readily adopted by Europeans beginning in the 13th century as superior to existing systems, and that\u00a0Mu\u1e25ammad ibn M\u016bs\u0101 al-Khw\u0101rizm\u012b<\/a>, a Persian scholar working in Baghdad in the 9th century, authored the textbook that systematized algebra and became the foundational text, when translated into Latin, for European universities until the 16th century.\u00a0 It is also true that, in the manner in which empires and civilizations rise and fall, during the Islamic Golden Age<\/a>, Western Europe was, first, beset by invaders from north, east, and south, including Arab raiders and slave-traders, and subsequently, had its own high-medieval flourishing marked by the growth of cities, trade, cathedrals, and universities.\u00a0 And the peak of Baghdad\u2019s flourishing ended with wars beginning in the 10th century, and the Islamic Golden Age itself ended after an invasion by an Empire of Color, namely the Mongols, in which, during the 1258 Siege of Baghdad<\/a>,<\/p>\n The Mongols looted and then destroyed mosques, palaces, libraries, and hospitals. Priceless books from Baghdad\u2019s thirty-six public libraries were torn apart, the looters using their leather covers as sandals. <\/sup>Grand buildings that had been the work of generations were burned to the ground. The House of Wisdom<\/a> (the Grand Library of Baghdad), containing countless precious historical documents and books on subjects ranging from medicine to astronomy, was destroyed. Survivors said that the waters of the Tigris<\/a> ran black with ink from the enormous quantities of books flung into the river and red from the blood of the scientists and philosophers killed.<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Should this be included in the math curriculum?\u00a0 What about the fact that, after this decline, new advancements in math originated from Europe, in the form of, for example, Newton and Leibniz\u2019s independent invention of calculus<\/a>?<\/p>\n The second theme<\/strong> is \u201cpower and oppression.\u201d<\/p>\n Power and oppression, as defined by ethnic studies, are the ways in which individuals and groups define mathematical knowledge so as to see \u201cWestern\u201d mathematics as the only legitimate expression of mathematical identity and intelligence. This definition of \u200blegitimacy is then used to disenfranchise \u200b people and communities of color. This \u200berases the historical contributions \u200b of people and communities of color.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n No, no, and no some more.<\/p>\n SWBAT (Students will be able to) analyze the ways in which ancient mathematical knowledge has been appropriated by Western culture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n No.\u00a0 That\u2019s not how knowledge works.\u00a0 In the world outside this sort of delusional \u201cgrievance studies,\u201d knowledge is shared.\u00a0 Prior to Western Europeans translating Arabic treatises, the Arabs, while their countrymen were raiding Europe, were themselves\u00a0 eagerly translating Greek mathematical treatises.<\/p>\n SWBAT identify how the development of mathematics has been erased from learning in school.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Look, it\u2019s cute to want to have lessons on the history of mathematics, but last I checked, a better grounding in various foundational skills takes priority.<\/p>\n And the remainder of the \u201clearning targets\u201d under power and oppression are that students should learn that math, science, and technology, as well as standardized testing,\u00a0 have been used to \u201coppress and marginalize people and communities of color\u201d \u2014 which I suppose might mean that, without the ability to navigate in ocean-going vessels, slave-traders would never have been able to bring their cargo to the Americas.<\/p>\n The third theme, history of resistance and liberation, says,<\/p>\n The history of resistance and liberation, as defined by ethnic studies, is the stories, places, and people who helped liberate people and communities of color using math, engineering, and technology. \u200bAccess to mathematical knowledge itself is an act of liberation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Which sounds harmless, enough.\u00a0 Learn mathematical skills, leave poverty.\u00a0 Nations which increase their level of education, reduce their poverty rates.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not what they mean.\u00a0 They don\u2019t even mean that statistical analysis can be used in efforts to combat poverty, for example, by directing government money to the neediest places, or determining what anti-poverty measures work best, or even that statistical analysis can help win lawsuits against discrimination.\u00a0 They mean, again, that knowing that non-Europeans invented math will make students feel empowered:<\/p>\n SWBAT know and appreciate the contributions of their individual communities toward the development of institutions in the advancement of mathematics.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n and<\/p>\n SWBAT identify economic movements that have led to liberation<\/p><\/blockquote>\n which, I\u2019m sorry, makes no sense (the statement has a parenthetical mention of\u00a0Kirabo Jackson, who, it turns out, is a professor at Northwestern<\/a> who specializes in studying teacher effectiveness).<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a leading question:<\/p>\n How can we change mathematics from individualistic to collectivist thinking?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n which I again can\u2019t make any sense out of except insofar as a lesson uses story problems to illustrate the superiority of the economic system of Venezuela under Chavez (that is, because even most far-leftists recognize things are Very Bad in Venezuela at the moment but tend to blame that on Maduro).<\/p>\n\n