{"id":17182,"date":"2020-07-14T13:25:38","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T19:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=17182"},"modified":"2020-07-26T18:26:50","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T00:26:50","slug":"yes-2-2-still-equals-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2020\/07\/yes-2-2-still-equals-4.html","title":{"rendered":"Yes, 2 + 2 still equals 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/wwworks\/15344079560<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
\u201cFreedom,\u201d Winston writes in George Orwell\u2019s *1984<\/em>, \u201cis the freedom to say that two plus two make four.\u00a0 If that is granted, all else follows.\u201d<\/p>\n*
Is there an objective truth?\u00a0 Postmodern intellectuals have been insisting that\u2019s not the case for long enough now, though, of course, once-upon-a-time that was in the sense that there is no objective \u201cright\u201d or \u201cwrong\u201d morally speaking, or that what defines great literature or art is not objectively discernable (nor is it possible to discern what it objectively means<\/em>), or that there is no way to identify one culture as \u201csuperior\u201d to another, or that the \u201ctruth\u201d of a historical narrative which paints European men as \u201cgreat\u201d is complicated, or the like.<\/p>\n
When \u201cethnic studies\u201d encroached into mathematics and the sciences, the intent was reasonably unobjectionable:\u00a0 if there are lies, damn lies, and statistics, and statisticians had used statistics with ill intent (for example, to redline black neighborhoods), then a new generation should harness the power of statistical analysis for good instead. If there were women or racial\/ethnic minority folk whose contributions to science had been erased, then, insofar as students learn the history of science or mathematics, their stories should be included.\u00a0 And that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n
*But we\u2019ve moved beyond that.<\/p>\n*
*Here\u2019s a tweet, well, going on a couple weeks ago by now (yes, I let this draft sit for a while).<\/p>\n*
$\"\"$ The individual has now protected <\/span>her account<\/a> (that is, tweets are only view-able by permission).\u00a0 She gives her LinkedIn profile, but seems to have also taken that down.\u00a0 She identifies herself as a \u201cteacher, scholar, social justice change agent, PhD student, architecture enthusiast, wannabe math person, BLM always. . .\u201d\u00a0 but what she\u2019s studying isn\u2019t clear. \u00a0 A website defending her<\/a> says it\u2019s \u201ccritical mathematics education.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
*This sparked other replies on twitter, including the following:<\/p>\n*
*$\"\"$ <\/p>\n*
This account is now also protected.\u00a0 The individual in question, <\/span>Joe Herbert<\/a>, identifies himself as a \u201cmaster teacher.\u201d\u00a0 The original tweet, from Lee Melvin Peralta, still exists at this writing<\/a> and Peralta in his bio identifies himself as \u201cfil-am, grad student, former ms math teacher, trying to decolonize all the things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
*$\"\"$ <\/p>\n*
It should go without saying that this is nonsense; it is understood by everyone, including these activists if they were honest, that \u201c2 + 2 =4\u201d means \u201ctwo units plus two units equals four units,\u201d and that no culture uses a base 4 or similar mathematical system because of the functionality of base 10.\u00a0 Heck, even in base 12, which one might say we implicitly use when we refer to a quantity as \u201ctwo dozen,\u201d 2 + 2 is still four.<\/p>\n
And that tweet was in response to a thread by Laurie Rubel, in defense of Marshall, which I\u2019ll admit I can\u2019t quite make sense of it, but, until it\u2019s removed\/she protects here account, here\u2019s a link<\/a>, and at any rate, here\u2019s the thread:<\/p>\n
*$\"\"$ <\/p>\n*
*So what\u2019s this all about?<\/p>\n*
These are all academics, but they are actively teaching the next generation math, or teaching the next generation of teachers who will be doing the teaching.\u00a0 They are heavily promoting the idea that mathematics education for racial\/ethnic minority children should be transformed along principles of \u201cethnic studies.\u201d\u00a0 And this found its way into a \u201cMath Ethnic Studies Framework\u201d at the Seattle Public Schools which caused outrage, then misplaced defense by local media but, when I dug into it,<\/a> claimed that students should learn that \u201cpeople of color\u201d (in the modern, anachronistic sense) invented mathematics, that non-\u201cWestern\u201d forms of mathematics have been suppressed, and that mathematics had been a tool of oppression but should be used instead for social justice purposes.<\/p>\n
*And just the other day, Steven Welliever looked at the mathematics test scores of students in schools piloting this curriculum.<\/p>\n*
\n
Sources:
Part 5 of 5, The Failures of Ethnic Studies (and how to fix them) by Castro-Gill, Seattle ES program manager.https:\/\/t.co\/qddXtpDzVg<\/a> (scroll down)<\/p>\n
Curriculum https:\/\/t.co\/oYJN8FbAbq<\/a><\/p>\n
WA school data:https:\/\/t.co\/CIgMCpuM0v<\/a><\/p>\n
ES program https:\/\/t.co\/IEa7RH25f4<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Steven Welliever (@StevenWelliever) July 12, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/wwworks\/15344079560<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
\u201cFreedom,\u201d Winston writes in George Orwell\u2019s *1984<\/em>, \u201cis the freedom to say that two plus two make four.\u00a0 If that is granted, all else follows.\u201d<\/p>\n*
Is there an objective truth?\u00a0 Postmodern intellectuals have been insisting that\u2019s not the case for long enough now, though, of course, once-upon-a-time that was in the sense that there is no objective \u201cright\u201d or \u201cwrong\u201d morally speaking, or that what defines great literature or art is not objectively discernable (nor is it possible to discern what it objectively means<\/em>), or that there is no way to identify one culture as \u201csuperior\u201d to another, or that the \u201ctruth\u201d of a historical narrative which paints European men as \u201cgreat\u201d is complicated, or the like.<\/p>\n
When \u201cethnic studies\u201d encroached into mathematics and the sciences, the intent was reasonably unobjectionable:\u00a0 if there are lies, damn lies, and statistics, and statisticians had used statistics with ill intent (for example, to redline black neighborhoods), then a new generation should harness the power of statistical analysis for good instead. If there were women or racial\/ethnic minority folk whose contributions to science had been erased, then, insofar as students learn the history of science or mathematics, their stories should be included.\u00a0 And that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n
*But we\u2019ve moved beyond that.<\/p>\n*
*Here\u2019s a tweet, well, going on a couple weeks ago by now (yes, I let this draft sit for a while).<\/p>\n*
$\"\"$ The individual has now protected <\/span>her account<\/a> (that is, tweets are only view-able by permission).\u00a0 She gives her LinkedIn profile, but seems to have also taken that down.\u00a0 She identifies herself as a \u201cteacher, scholar, social justice change agent, PhD student, architecture enthusiast, wannabe math person, BLM always. . .\u201d\u00a0 but what she\u2019s studying isn\u2019t clear. \u00a0 A website defending her<\/a> says it\u2019s \u201ccritical mathematics education.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
*This sparked other replies on twitter, including the following:<\/p>\n*
*$\"\"$ <\/p>\n*
This account is now also protected.\u00a0 The individual in question, <\/span>Joe Herbert<\/a>, identifies himself as a \u201cmaster teacher.\u201d\u00a0 The original tweet, from Lee Melvin Peralta, still exists at this writing<\/a> and Peralta in his bio identifies himself as \u201cfil-am, grad student, former ms math teacher, trying to decolonize all the things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
*$\"\"$ <\/p>\n*
It should go without saying that this is nonsense; it is understood by everyone, including these activists if they were honest, that \u201c2 + 2 =4\u201d means \u201ctwo units plus two units equals four units,\u201d and that no culture uses a base 4 or similar mathematical system because of the functionality of base 10.\u00a0 Heck, even in base 12, which one might say we implicitly use when we refer to a quantity as \u201ctwo dozen,\u201d 2 + 2 is still four.<\/p>\n
And that tweet was in response to a thread by Laurie Rubel, in defense of Marshall, which I\u2019ll admit I can\u2019t quite make sense of it, but, until it\u2019s removed\/she protects here account, here\u2019s a link<\/a>, and at any rate, here\u2019s the thread:<\/p>\n
*$\"\"$ <\/p>\n*
*So what\u2019s this all about?<\/p>\n*
These are all academics, but they are actively teaching the next generation math, or teaching the next generation of teachers who will be doing the teaching.\u00a0 They are heavily promoting the idea that mathematics education for racial\/ethnic minority children should be transformed along principles of \u201cethnic studies.\u201d\u00a0 And this found its way into a \u201cMath Ethnic Studies Framework\u201d at the Seattle Public Schools which caused outrage, then misplaced defense by local media but, when I dug into it,<\/a> claimed that students should learn that \u201cpeople of color\u201d (in the modern, anachronistic sense) invented mathematics, that non-\u201cWestern\u201d forms of mathematics have been suppressed, and that mathematics had been a tool of oppression but should be used instead for social justice purposes.<\/p>\n
*And just the other day, Steven Welliever looked at the mathematics test scores of students in schools piloting this curriculum.<\/p>\n*
\n
Sources:
Part 5 of 5, The Failures of Ethnic Studies (and how to fix them) by Castro-Gill, Seattle ES program manager.https:\/\/t.co\/qddXtpDzVg<\/a> (scroll down)<\/p>\n
Curriculum https:\/\/t.co\/oYJN8FbAbq<\/a><\/p>\n
WA school data:https:\/\/t.co\/CIgMCpuM0v<\/a><\/p>\n
ES program https:\/\/t.co\/IEa7RH25f4<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Steven Welliever (@StevenWelliever) July 12, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n