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Once again we have a professor saying something ridiculous and getting press coverage, but once again the real detail is being missed:<\/p>\n
Professor claims ‘meritocracy’ in math class is a ‘tool of whiteness’: report<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Now, I\u2019m citing Fox News above, a widely reviled news source. As per Wikileaks, it is one of the very few large audience news outlets that shouldn\u2019t be viewed as completely fraudulent. I concede they\u2019re not very good but they do look good on the curve, at least. They manage to screw up the news here right away:<\/p>\n \u201cA math professor at Brooklyn College wrote\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n A math professor? Oh really? The professor being referenced here is Laurie Rubel. Let\u2019s take a look at what she\u2019s teaching<\/a>:<\/p>\n Before coming to teach in Brooklyn College’s mathematics education program\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n She\u2019s a teacher of math education. Her Ph.D. is also in Math Education<\/a>. She publishes in Math Education. It really, really, drives me nuts that we have these people, these Educationists, posing as scholars in different fields. I\u2019ve written extensively of the fraud, and it simply drives me nuts that time and again these people continue to represent themselves as something they are, most definitely, not. It\u2019s infuriating.<\/p>\n Ok, just because she\u2019s been misrepresented here, it may not be her fault (it\u2019s Fox News, after all), and even though her Ph.D. isn\u2019t in mathematics, I\u2019m still quite willing to hear what she has to say about mathematics. Of course, she\u2019s not talking about mathematics, she\u2019s talking about identity politics.<\/p>\n Rubel reportedly recommended that math teachers use more social justice issues during lessons. Rubel, however, warned that teaching \u201csocial justice\u201d can also be a tool of whiteness if teachers are ignorant to the experiences of their minority students…<\/em><\/p>\n I should point out that this professor has won some pretty hefty awards for believing in these things. I tend to disagree with such beliefs, of course, and I want to point out a big difference between disagreement here as opposed to disagreement in an academic field. It\u2019s always puzzling when I hear Educationists make these kinds of statements to explain why \u201cminorities\u201d don\u2019t do well in math class, as though Whiteness is the problem. China has plenty of people who are not white, and yet do fine in mathematics, after all.<\/p>\n Anyway, the difference between academics and Education is I can actually formulate an argument explaining why the professor is wrong, whereas the Educationist simply just says stuff without justification. Let\u2019s take an example:<\/p>\n Rubel wrote that math teachers who claim to be color-blind are not doing the minority students any favors.<\/em><\/p>\n Please understand the teacher here is really addressing fairly basic mathematics, not advanced, esoteric topics she neither teaches nor researches in.<\/p>\n I\u2019m pretty color blind about \u201c2 + 2 = 4\u201d and other basic mathematical ideas because none of the mathematics makes an assumption about the color of the skin of the person making the calculation. The burden is on her to show me in the definitions where such assumptions exist, because I know no skin-color-related definitions are in mathematics.<\/p>\n As far as \u201cdoing the minority students any favors\u201d goes, I maintain that mathematics is not under any obligation to do any students, minority or otherwise, any favors under any circumstances. I again put the burden on her to show where mathematics makes any such claim.<\/p>\n Now, I grant a Fox News article isn\u2019t going to show her full arguments, just her (odd) conclusions but as luck would have it, her whole research paper is online.<\/p>\n Equity-Directed Instructional Practices: Beyond the Dominant Perspective<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n This research is published in the Journal of Urban Mathematics. I\u2019m still scratching my head over the title of this journal; I know I don\u2019t know all mathematics, but can\u2019t hazard a guess what \u201curban\u201d mathematics could be. To the best of my understanding, mathematics is the same whether you\u2019re in a rural or urban or cosmopolitan setting\u2026even in outer space, mathematics doesn\u2019t change.<\/p>\n One of my many issues with Education as a field is how they\u2019ve isolated themselves from academia. Their students don\u2019t take math courses taught by mathematicians, instead Education students take Math for Education courses, taught by Education professors. Similarly, they take Art for Education majors, Chemistry for Education majors, and so on. It\u2019s bizarre that what are general academic topics for the rest of humanity are \u201cspecialized\u201d for Educationists. Perhaps this weird education is why these people never consider China in their thinking, since they\u2019re unaware it even exists?<\/p>\n Now, journals absolutely tend to be specialized, but I can\u2019t help but suspect this isn\u2019t so much a research journal as an Identity Politics journal, where any article that simply supports the narrative (such as the famous Penises Cause Global Warming research<\/a>) gets publication.<\/p>\n With her paper freely available, I can see with my own eyes what her arguments are regarding her claims. It\u2019s a 40 page paper, so it\u2019s good that it starts with a summary:<\/p>\n In this article, the author synthesizes four equity-directed instructional practices: standards-based mathematics instruction, complex instruction, culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), and teaching mathematics for social justice (TMfSJ).<\/em><\/p>\n Oh no, \u201cteaching mathematics for social justice\u201d? If there was even remote doubt that we\u2019re dealing with a Social Justice Warrior here, it\u2019s gone in the first sentence.<\/p>\n I foreground \u201crace\u201d in this literature review because of the significance of whiteness in the United States in reproducing subordination and widening society\u2019s opportunity gaps in and through mathematics education\u2026<\/p>\n While the professor does cite her sources for the above, I\u2019m still puzzled at why the research always forgets about Asians; many Asian groups have come to this country and done quite well. Again, this mountain of empirical evidence destroys the \u201cit\u2019s white people\u2019s fault\u201d narrative, and so is simply ignored. (But if anyone knows an argument or research explaining it, feel free to comment below.)<\/p>\n More generally, whiteness tacitly positions White people, their experiences, and their behaviors as superior\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n There are many statements like the above, and while it is cited, it\u2019s not at all clear what any of this has to do with mathematics, or student success. In any event, there is extensive discussion and review of literature before getting to the research, which is statistics based. I note her sample size is 12 (or \u201cN = 12,\u201d as they say in statistics).<\/p>\n Hey, anyone else remember that \u201chorrible\u201d Wakefield study relating vaccines and autism? It was considered complete garbage because of the small sample size. Guess what it was? That\u2019s right, 12. Such a small sample doesn\u2019t actually destroy a study, it just means it should be viewed as preliminary. But I digress.<\/p>\n In any event, the vast results of the statistics here are based on qualitative interpretations of what\u2019s going on in the classroom. There are, of course, no controls, either. As such, there\u2019s no way to put any stock in any of the results. You can pretty much get any result you want from this kind of study, which is little more than a collection of case studies; I\u2019m more than a little puzzled at the long preamble at the beginning of this research. I honestly thought something was going to be shown here, but\u2026no dice.<\/p>\n Whiteness as blinding. Mary and Molly avoided addressing issues of power and social justice in the content of their mathematics lessons, even though\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Even in the case studies, there\u2019s a theme here that is unpleasant. Instead of commending teachers for sticking to mathematics in their mathematics classes, there\u2019s chastisement for not spending time on social justice. What\u2019s up with that?<\/p>\n Getting back to the point: we as a nation are pouring huge sums of money into this \u201cresearch,\u201d and calling it \u201cmathematical research.\u201d We really need to stop doing that, and seeing as the main source of that money is the student loan scam, shutting that down would be a fine place to start.<\/p>\n www.professorconfess.blogspot.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"