Math professors and educators at leading American universities have taken to Twitter in order to debate whether math is racist.
Some asserted that objective mathematics is rooted in “white supremacist patriarchy” and white social constructs.
The debate itself was rooted in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, in which citizens of a fictional totalitarian state believe that 2 plus 2 equals 5 as a result of government propaganda.
Laurie Rubel, who teaches math education at Brooklyn College, says that the idea of math being culturally neutral is a “myth,” and that asking whether 2 plus 2 equals 4 “reeks of white supremacist patriarchy.”
“Y’all must know that the idea that math is objective or neutral IS A MYTH,” she tweeted.
Rochelle Gutierrez, who teaches “Sociopolitical Perspectives on Mathematics and Science Education” at the University of Illinois, responded to a tweet from a former educator claiming that the U.S. “colonizes” math.
“By now it is well known, for example, that other cultures were using the theorem we call Pythagorean, yet we still refer to it with this name. This is colonization and erasure,” the tweet from the former educator read.
Read the rest at: campusreform.com
