Prof: Algebra, geometry perpetuate white privilege

Prof: Algebra, geometry perpetuate white privilege

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10005

OK, no question that most of human history has been about male dominated societies, which meant that most discoveries in the fields of astronomy, mathematics, and engineering going back to ancient time were made by men, since they had opportunities that were not available to most women. In more modern times the fields of physics, chemistry, and medicine were likewise dominated by men. Only in the 18th and 19th centuries in the West did any women manage to penetrate some of these fields, Madame Curie being a prime example. In the 20th century this did begin to change, however slowly, but by the onset of the 21st century opportunities for women in the West and even other places in the world had become at least somewhat comparable to those men have. We have come a very long way, but as almost any woman will testify, there's still lots of room for improvement. All that said, deciding that since so much of math, science, and many other fields was developed by men, mostly White men, that history must be somehow "corrected", and "white privilege" acknowledged and eliminated, is just plain silly. The answer to progress for all is not to harp on the injustices, real or perceived, of the past, but to focus on real impartiality in teaching, and recognizing that, contrary to the idea that all knowledge is "relational", reality is just what it is, whether it's 2+2=4 or the incredibly complex equations needed for getting vehicles into orbit safely and stably. The scalpel doesn't care about who the hand wielding it belongs to, neither does the body that is being opened up to remove a tumor, all that matters is the skill controlling that hand. We have today way too much PC pressure in lots of ways, even when it comes to hiring the "right" people for a job, extending the idea of affirmative action to every kind of minority. Taken far enough, this amounts to discriminating against straight White men, and that is just proceeding from past injustice forms to a new kind now. --Del