{"id":1103088,"date":"2021-12-09T15:44:47","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T20:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1103088"},"modified":"2021-12-09T15:44:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T20:44:51","slug":"usa-today-asks-is-math-racist-gets-ripped-online-sign-of-cultural-sickness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/usa-today-asks-is-math-racist-gets-ripped-online-sign-of-cultural-sickness\/","title":{"rendered":"USA Today Asks, \u2018Is Math Racist\u2019; Gets Ripped Online: \u2018Sign Of Cultural Sickness\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fusa-today-asks-is-math-racist-gets-ripped-online-sign-of-cultural-sickness%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1103088&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>USA Today touched off a torrential backlash by posting an article asking, \u201cIs Math Racist?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The original headline for the article, which is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/restricted\/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fin-depth%2Fnews%2Feducation%2F2021%2F12%2F07%2Fmath-racist-schools-teaching-methods-inclusive%2F6136092001%2F\">behind a paywall<\/a>, asked, \u201cIs math racist? As many students of color struggle with the subject, schools are altering instruction \u2013 sometimes amid intense debate.\u201d The newspaper later changed the headline to: \u201cIs math education racist? Debate rages over changes to how US teaches the subject.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The article purports to show how black students struggle with math and highlights \u201cbolder recommendations to make math more inclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe pandemic has exacerbated inequities in math, with students in predominantly [b]lack schools losing about two more months of math learning in 2020-21 compared with students attending white-majority schools,\u201d USA Today tweeted. \u201cBut traditionalists who shun the new approach say it effectively dumbs down math education. They say pure math inquiry should be neutral of politics. And students gifted in math should be allowed to advance faster than their peers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">But traditionalists who shun the new approach say it effectively dumbs down math education. They say pure math inquiry should be neutral of politics. And students gifted in math should be allowed to advance faster than their peers. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KblviXsyuR\">https:\/\/t.co\/KblviXsyuR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 USA TODAY (@USATODAY) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/USATODAY\/status\/1468302760999366662?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 7, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, math is not racist. Major venues like @USATODAY even asking this question is a sign of cultural sickness,\u201d replied Portland State University professor <a href=\"https:\/\/newdiscourses.com\/2020\/09\/peter-boghossian-how-social-justice-silences\/\">Peter Boghossian<\/a>. \u201cRacial disparities can be addressed (in part) by using the best evidence-based pedagogical practices that enable student learning. Please stop suggesting math is racist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many others shared his outrage at the headline.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis seems more like political advocacy than news reportage,\u201d observed one poster. Schools could effect higher math scores if they \u201cspend more time teaching fractions &amp; STOP teaching revisionist history,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/conservativetht\/status\/1468892857507274752\">wrote<\/a> one individual. \u201cMeanwhile China is building hypersonic missiles,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/debeehr\/status\/1468651688475123723\">replied<\/a> another. Yet another <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BoroffCraig\/status\/1468708161787994112\">predicted<\/a>, \u201cPretty soon they will just say school itself is racist and everyone gets an A.\u201d Free-market economist and professor Daniel LaCalle simply asked, \u201cIs this a joke?\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Is this a joke? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/02DH4I4MrV\">pic.twitter.com\/02DH4I4MrV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Daniel Lacalle (@dlacalle_IA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dlacalle_IA\/status\/1468704201735917581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 8, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Yet USA Today was not alone in asking if the universally applicable laws of mathematics secretly convey racial bias. On Wednesday, The Washington Post printed an article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/outlook\/2021\/12\/08\/racism-our-curriculums-isnt-limited-history-its-math-too\/\">titled<\/a> \u201cRacism in our curriculums isn\u2019t limited to history. It\u2019s in math, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Math \u201cis perceived, incorrectly, as a neutral space outside the reach of structural racism and national histories,\u201d wrote Theodore Kim, an associate professor of computer science at Yale University. He added, without evidence, that a theorem known as the \u201cChinese Remainder Theorem\u201d may have been affected by anti-Asian sentiments from decades before the theorem was popularized.<\/p>\n<p>Educators have also tried to portray math as biased against minorities. As The Daily Wire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/asking-students-to-show-their-work-in-math-class-is-a-form-of-white-supremacy\">reported<\/a>, last February:<\/p>\n<p><em>In an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/accounts\/ORED\/bulletins\/2bfbb9b?fbclid=IwAR3U8iS7fCD-g0NArQh74qlRa5IVFiTXoithZA89kMvmD0DETmzcV9DuQdg\">email<\/a>&nbsp;sent out by the Oregon Department of Education, teachers were encouraged to enroll in a course called \u201cA Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction.\u201d The course came with an 82-page instructional guide that lists the ways in which white supremacy is perpetuated in math class.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWhite supremacy culture infiltrates math classrooms in everyday teacher actions,\u201d the guide reads. \u201cCoupled with the beliefs that underlie these actions, they perpetuate educational harm on Black, Latinx, and multilingual students, denying them full access to the world of mathematics.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Part of the course\u2019s \u201ctoolkit\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/oregon-promotes-program-focused-on-dismantling-racism-in-mathematics-says-finding-the-right-answer-a-sign-of-white-supremacy\">claimed<\/a> that math instruction may be racist, because its \u201cfocus is on getting the \u2018right\u2019 answer.\u201d Asking students to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/asking-students-to-show-their-work-in-math-class-is-a-form-of-white-supremacy\">show their work<\/a> was also said to be a form of white supremacy.<\/p>\n<p>The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California, also taught a workshop in June on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/california-math-research-institute-to-host-math-and-racial-justice-workshop\">Mathematics and Racial Justice<\/a>,\u201d which promised to \u201cexplore the role that mathematics plays in today\u2019s movement for racial justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite allegations that math has built white supremacy into its algorithm, Asians score the highest on the SAT\u2019s mathematics test. Asian students\u2019 average math score is 632 out of 800, compared to 547 for white students, 478 for Hispanics, and 454 for black students, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/blog\/up-front\/2020\/12\/01\/sat-math-scores-mirror-and-maintain-racial-inequity\/\">according<\/a>&nbsp;to the Brookings Institution.<\/p>\n<p>USA Today has <a href=\"https:\/\/pressgazette.co.uk\/biggest-us-newspapers-by-circulation\/\">lost 62% of its print circulation<\/a> since the beginning of 2020, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.<\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>USA Today touched off a torrential backlash by posting an article asking, \u201cIs Math Racist?\u201dThe original headline for the article, which is behind a paywall, asked, \u201cIs math racist? As many students of color struggle with the subject, schools are altering instruction \u2013 sometimes amid intense debate.\u201d The newspaper later changed the headline to: \u201cIs math education racist? Debate rages over changes to how US teaches the subject.\u201dThe article purports to show how black students struggle with math and highlights \u201cbolder recommendations to make math more inclusive.\u201d\u201cThe pandemic has exacerbated inequities in math, with students in predominantly [b]lack schools losing about two more months of math learning in 2020-21 compared with students attending white-majority schools,\u201d USA Today tweeted. \u201cBut traditionalists who shun the new approach say it effectively dumbs down math education. They say pure math inquiry should be neutral of politics. And students gifted in math should be allowed to advance faster than their peers.\u201dBut traditionalists who shun the new approach say it effectively dumbs down math education. They say pure math inquiry should be neutral of politics. And students gifted in math should be allowed to advance faster than their peers. https:\/\/t.co\/KblviXsyuR\u2014 USA TODAY (@USATODAY) December 7, 2021\u201cNo, math is not racist. Major venues like @USATODAY even asking this question is a sign of cultural sickness,\u201d replied Portland State University professor Peter Boghossian. \u201cRacial disparities can be addressed (in part) by using the best evidence-based pedagogical practices that enable student learning. Please stop suggesting math is racist.\u201dMany others shared his outrage at the headline.\u201cThis seems more like political advocacy than news reportage,\u201d observed one poster. Schools could effect higher math scores if they \u201cspend more time teaching fractions &#038; STOP teaching revisionist history,\u201d wrote one individual. \u201cMeanwhile China is building hypersonic missiles,\u201d replied another. Yet another predicted, \u201cPretty soon they will just say school itself is racist and everyone gets an A.\u201d Free-market economist and professor Daniel LaCalle simply asked, \u201cIs this a joke?\u201dIs this a joke? pic.twitter.com\/02DH4I4MrV\u2014 Daniel Lacalle (@dlacalle_IA) December 8, 2021Yet USA Today was not alone in asking if the universally applicable laws of mathematics secretly convey racial bias. On Wednesday, The Washington Post printed an article titled \u201cRacism in our curriculums isn\u2019t limited to history. It\u2019s in math, too.\u201dMath \u201cis perceived, incorrectly, as a neutral space outside the reach of structural racism and national histories,\u201d wrote Theodore Kim, an associate professor of computer science at Yale University. He added, without evidence, that a theorem known as the \u201cChinese Remainder Theorem\u201d may have been affected by anti-Asian sentiments from decades before the theorem was popularized.Educators have also tried to portray math as biased against minorities. As The Daily Wire reported, last February:In an\u00a0email\u00a0sent out by the Oregon Department of Education, teachers were encouraged to enroll in a course called \u201cA Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction.\u201d The course came with an 82-page instructional guide that lists the ways in which white supremacy is perpetuated in math class.\u00a0\u201cWhite supremacy culture infiltrates math classrooms in everyday teacher actions,\u201d the guide reads. \u201cCoupled with the beliefs that underlie these actions, they perpetuate educational harm on Black, Latinx, and multilingual students, denying them full access to the world of mathematics.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Part of the course\u2019s \u201ctoolkit\u201d claimed that math instruction may be racist, because its \u201cfocus is on getting the \u2018right\u2019 answer.\u201d Asking students to show their work was also said to be a form of white supremacy.The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California, also taught a workshop in June on \u201cMathematics and Racial Justice,\u201d which promised to \u201cexplore the role that mathematics plays in today\u2019s movement for racial justice.\u201dDespite allegations that math has built white supremacy into its algorithm, Asians score the highest on the SAT\u2019s mathematics test. Asian students\u2019 average math score is 632 out of 800, compared to 547 for white students, 478 for Hispanics, and 454 for black students, according\u00a0to the Brookings Institution.USA Today has lost 62% of its print circulation since the beginning of 2020, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1103088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1103088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1103088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1103088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1103088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}