Mathematics Is Racist and Sexist Too

I say that 2+2=3. You aver that 2+2=5. Along comes a mathematician. What does he opine? He maintains that 2+2=4. But he does not say this as we say it. Oh, no. He pontificates about it. He can prove it, through arcane methodology that the two of us simply cannot understand. He states it as an intellectual superior, who will brook no objection; as a colonialist, who is accustomed to bossing around members of the local community; as a slave master, who is never contradicted. Worse, he smirks as he announces his claim.

Even worse, he is typically a straight white man. When I refer to the mathematician as a “he” this is all too true. The Fields Medal is to mathematics as the Nobel Prize is to accomplishments in numerous other areas of science and learning. Since 1936 when it was first awarded. 64 people have been given this honor. How many women are included in this august company? Only two. According to an OECD study: “Boys perform better than girls in maths. They scored higher in 37 out of the 65 countries and economies, while girls outperform boys in 5 countries.” Need we say more? Yes, indeed, we do need to do so. And what can be said is that both men and women are of equal ability; they are equal in every imaginable way (to doubt this is to be a sexist). How, then, to account for this wide disparity? Sexism of course. Men are mainly in charge of selecting Fields Medal honorees, and naturally, they favor members of their own gender. As to boys outperforming girls, this is due to sexism, obviously. To mention any other possible explanation, is fascistic and offensive; it makes me feel unsafe.

Secondly, mathematics ignores lived experiences. Everyone knows that there is an important connection between certain racial groups and lived experiences. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, lived experiences are the things that someone has experienced themselves, especially when these give the person a knowledge or understanding that people who have only heard about such experiences do not have. In the view of one commentator: “Lived experiences (are) key to achieve racial justice and equality.” But mathematics completely eschews “lived experiences.” Thus, it undermines the epistemology of such racial demographics. A similar situation applies to “alternative ways of knowing,” and “multiple narratives.” Math gives the back of its hand to these options, also connected to some racial groups. Thus it is totally unconscionable.

Then, there is the fact that certain racial groups perform poorly, relative to other demographics, in mathematics. Specifically, Oriental students register far better grades on math exams than do their white counterparts. This is a per se indication of systemic racism. How do we know that? This is due to the undeniable fact that absent exploitation, all racial groups would be indistinguishable from each other in every skill, certainly including ability to do mathematics. That Orientals outstrip whites in this regard proves that the former are systemically violating the rights of the latter. How do they accomplish this? It is hard to discern, given that the racists, here, are so inscrutable. But of this primordial fact, there can be no question.

True, math underlies much of physics and engineering. Without mathematics, these two disciplines would be rendered all but impotent. Nor can it be denied that the reason bridges and building stay upright, why airplanes and rocket ships function, and account for the functioning of electronics, computers, medicine and much else that makes modern life livable. Nevertheless, math must go. It is racist. And sexist. Eliminating it is thus imperative. To hell with civilized living. We have more important fish to fry here.

I don’t like to brag, but, if there were a contest for short essays with the greatest number of fallacies embedded in them, I’m sure this one would take first prize.

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Pegs:

Fields medal https://www.google.com/search?q=fields+medal+winners&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS963US963&oq=fields+medal+winners&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l9.5669j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

lived experiences:

Paul, Pamela. 2022. “The Limits of ‘Lived Experience.’” April 24; https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/24/opinion/lived-experience-empathy-culture.html

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS963US963&q=What+is+the+meaning+of+lived+experiences%3F&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwiS6sXM8OH-AhWzFTQIHeeTAUMQzmd6BAhMEAY&biw=1280&bih=577&dpr=1.5

JUNE 10, 2020 JESSICA COLAROSSI

“Tapping into the Lived Experiences of People in Black Communities Is Key to Police Reform Efforts. BU researcher and collaborators listened to hundreds of Black Americans talk about police interactions in their neighborhoods.” https://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/tapping-into-lived-experiences-of-black-communities-police-reform-efforts/

“Lived experiences key to achieve racial justice and equality.” 25 October 2022 https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2022/10/lived-experiences-key-achieve-racial-justice-and-equality

racial groups perform differently in terms of math skills:

Opinion | Asian American Student Success Isn't a Problem

The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com › 2022/07/14 › asian-american...

Jul 14, 2022 — “The performance gap between Asian American and white high school students on standardized tests has grown over the past decade. In 2018, for…” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/opinion/asian-american-student-success.html

“The superior academic achievement of Asian Americans is a well-documented phenomenon that lacks a widely accepted explanation.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4060715/

Asian students dominate math and reading as US stagnates, OECD tests show GlobalPost December 3, 2013 · 6:24 PM EST By David Trifunov; https://theworld.org/stories/2013-12-03/asian-students-dominate-math-and-reading-us-stagnates-oecd-tests-show-video

“Study examines achievement gap between Asian American, white students.” https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-why-do-asian-american-students-perform-better-than-whites-20140505-story.html

“Explaining Asian Americans’ academic advantage over whites.” Amy Hsin and Yu Xie. https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1406402111