I had to see where this "Designing Mathematics Curricula ..." publication came from. Apparently the authors are from Wheelock College of Education & Human Development - which is the education department of Boston University.
Many, many years ago I took some courses at BU, a fine institution condemned to live in the shadow of Harvard across the river. I met some terrific - or at least interesting - professors. But it appears the education department is no better than anyplace else - inevitably academic backwaters.
"So, to paraphrase our fretful educators: Among these allegedly downtrodden and traumatised minority students, expectations of promptness and accuracy, of arriving at correct and verifiable answers, and handing work in on time, are alien things. Instead, it seems, we get lots of "loud" and "goofy" behaviour. Thereby disrupting attempts to learn by other, more conscientious students.
And which, it has to be said, isn’t entirely flattering of the drama’s supposed victims, or an obvious basis for sympathy, even pretentious sympathy. Nor is it an obvious footing for some sweeping, de-whitened reinvention of how mathematical knowledge might be imparted. All conjured into being at the expense of those more diligent and whose classroom behaviour isn’t selfish and disruptive."
Expectations of promptness, accuracy, etc are good — indeed, indispensable — things, in and of themselves. Or do you prefer your airline pilots, no matter their color, to be without them?
"When Black female students are repeatedly disciplined for being social, loud, or goofy in the mathematics classroom, they experience mathematical violence."
No. They are being disciplined for their behavior. Leave mathematics out of it.
I have asked many primary and secondary teachers about poor school results, and, all have told me that poor behavior is a big issue.
Outrageous behavior by some in the classroom is common. This puts everyone in the classroom behind the eight ball, as the teacher attempts to restore order.
In my city perpetrators cannot be expelled for more than 90 days even in the case of assault on the teacher.
The researchers should conduct a real world experiment using discreet groups and double blinded. Group 1 is ordinary math students, both male and female. Group 2 is minority women math students instructed as the researchers propose. Both groups test on the same test. We might gain some worthwhile insight as to the validity of this theory of disparate outcomes.
“Given that the U.S. system of education—particularly secondary and postsecondary institutions—was created by men, for the sole purpose of educating men, it is not surprising that it was developed with ‘masculine’ qualities.”
Seems like this nonsense could only be foisted on STEM by women who are bad at math. This is why the Left wokism is dissolving into chaos and anarchy. IT seems like that's the only things that it is composed of.
Students who are loud, disruptive, aggressive and inattentive are inflicting violence on the students who are trying to learn. However, these students weren't born loud and disruptive. They learned it at home from their loud, disruptive parents/caretakers and from their loud, disruptive peers. It was further reinforced by not shutting it down in the classrooms. Good behavior starts at home, modeled by the parents.
Leftists like to blame students' bad behaviors on their social/economic circumstances. But check out classrooms in the most underprivileged, impoverished countries, and you'll see calm, attentive, well behaved children. Their families understand very well that the only way out of poverty is through a good education, and they instill this value in their children.
Let the architects of "black feminist mathematics" prove their pedagogy by showing us their students' performance on standardized math tests. Ultimately, they can either do math or they can't. If they can't score well on the math portion of the SAT, if they can't do calculus, they will not be able to enter the STEM professions, no matter what the excuses. No one in their right mind will ever trust a bridge design, a surgical procedure or a space mission carried out by people who were taught that math answers don't have to be correct.
So I am going to use the power of Caucasity to hypothesize that college in America will become increasingly irrelevant
I am amazed how racism is tolerated in academia.
Thanks for reading!
Math <i>is</i>. It doesn’t care about race, sex or anything else. Any attempt to suggest otherwise is just denying reality.
Thanks for reading, and caring enough to make a comment. This small-time writer appreciates it.
What a bunch of complete and utter bullshit. Just another instance of academics arguing for special privileges for themselves and their followers.
Thanks for reading, AlabamaSlamma.
I had to see where this "Designing Mathematics Curricula ..." publication came from. Apparently the authors are from Wheelock College of Education & Human Development - which is the education department of Boston University.
Many, many years ago I took some courses at BU, a fine institution condemned to live in the shadow of Harvard across the river. I met some terrific - or at least interesting - professors. But it appears the education department is no better than anyplace else - inevitably academic backwaters.
Ms Airaksinen,
A small signal boost:
https://thompsonblog.co.uk/2025/01/but-paying-attention-is-hard.html
"So, to paraphrase our fretful educators: Among these allegedly downtrodden and traumatised minority students, expectations of promptness and accuracy, of arriving at correct and verifiable answers, and handing work in on time, are alien things. Instead, it seems, we get lots of "loud" and "goofy" behaviour. Thereby disrupting attempts to learn by other, more conscientious students.
And which, it has to be said, isn’t entirely flattering of the drama’s supposed victims, or an obvious basis for sympathy, even pretentious sympathy. Nor is it an obvious footing for some sweeping, de-whitened reinvention of how mathematical knowledge might be imparted. All conjured into being at the expense of those more diligent and whose classroom behaviour isn’t selfish and disruptive."
Regards,
David
WOW! Thank you for picking the story up. I'm flattered you trusted my reporting enough to share with your audience. Thank you!
It isn't clear you either read, or taken on board, David's comment.
Open my eyes then?
I apologize. I lost track of who was saying what to whom.
I hate when that happens.
Expectations of promptness, accuracy, etc are good — indeed, indispensable — things, in and of themselves. Or do you prefer your airline pilots, no matter their color, to be without them?
"When Black female students are repeatedly disciplined for being social, loud, or goofy in the mathematics classroom, they experience mathematical violence."
No. They are being disciplined for their behavior. Leave mathematics out of it.
I have asked many primary and secondary teachers about poor school results, and, all have told me that poor behavior is a big issue.
Outrageous behavior by some in the classroom is common. This puts everyone in the classroom behind the eight ball, as the teacher attempts to restore order.
In my city perpetrators cannot be expelled for more than 90 days even in the case of assault on the teacher.
There is much to do.
The researchers should conduct a real world experiment using discreet groups and double blinded. Group 1 is ordinary math students, both male and female. Group 2 is minority women math students instructed as the researchers propose. Both groups test on the same test. We might gain some worthwhile insight as to the validity of this theory of disparate outcomes.
Such a test would clearly be racist and sexist! Can't have objective evaluations! (/sarc for anyone in doubt)
It is amazing how far you can get in Education departments with theory alone. No proof needed that anything actually works
“Given that the U.S. system of education—particularly secondary and postsecondary institutions—was created by men, for the sole purpose of educating men, it is not surprising that it was developed with ‘masculine’ qualities.”
So… man and women are different after all?
Thanks for reading!
This is beyond absurd.
Thanks for reading, Robin!
Seems like this nonsense could only be foisted on STEM by women who are bad at math. This is why the Left wokism is dissolving into chaos and anarchy. IT seems like that's the only things that it is composed of.
Students who are loud, disruptive, aggressive and inattentive are inflicting violence on the students who are trying to learn. However, these students weren't born loud and disruptive. They learned it at home from their loud, disruptive parents/caretakers and from their loud, disruptive peers. It was further reinforced by not shutting it down in the classrooms. Good behavior starts at home, modeled by the parents.
Leftists like to blame students' bad behaviors on their social/economic circumstances. But check out classrooms in the most underprivileged, impoverished countries, and you'll see calm, attentive, well behaved children. Their families understand very well that the only way out of poverty is through a good education, and they instill this value in their children.
Let the architects of "black feminist mathematics" prove their pedagogy by showing us their students' performance on standardized math tests. Ultimately, they can either do math or they can't. If they can't score well on the math portion of the SAT, if they can't do calculus, they will not be able to enter the STEM professions, no matter what the excuses. No one in their right mind will ever trust a bridge design, a surgical procedure or a space mission carried out by people who were taught that math answers don't have to be correct.
Thank god trump is back, this shit will be over soon