Math is Racist and Perpetuates White Privilege, Professor Says Algebra + Geometry + Pi = White Supremacy
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/math-racist-and-perpetuates-white-privilege-professor-says
Forget everything you’ve ever learned about math, because you’ve been taught a racist system that has perpetuated white supremacy for millennia.
According to University of Illinois Professor Rochelle Gutierrez, math is political and very problematic because of white privilege:
“On many levels, 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.”
“Curricula emphasizing terms like Pythagorean theorem and pi perpetuate a perception that mathematics was largely developed by Greeks and other Europeans,” the professor says.
Gutierrez argues that too much emphasis is placed on math in our economy and that too many white professors teach the subject and receive the majority of grants, above “social studies or English” professors. She defines that as “unearned privilege.”
“Are we really that smart just because we do mathematics?” she asks:
“If one is not viewed as mathematical, there will always be a sense of inferiority that can be summoned… [minorities] have experienced microaggressions from participating in math classrooms… [and are] judged by whether they can reason abstractly.”
“Things cannot be known objectively; they must be known subjectively,” Professor Gutierrez said objectively.
Her teaching philosophy centers around the Spanish phrase, political conocimiento, which means, “political knowledge for teaching.” By employing that, two plus two doesn’t have to mean four anymore. It can mean whatever you want it to be, as long as it’s not offensive to others.
Class doomed dismissed.
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