'What's next?' College professor says math reinforces white privilege

Sarah D | 4:49 PM on October 25, 2017

Honest question: In the world of academia, is there anything left that isn’t seen as racist?

Prof: Algebra, geometry perpetuate white privilege https://t.co/NfqkO2bj5n #education

— Campus Reform (@campusreform) October 23, 2017

Geometry is based in white privilege, says a tenured professor at the University of Illinois. https://t.co/vBW9KsiaBA

— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) October 25, 2017

More from Campus Reform:

Rochelle Gutierrez, a professor at the University of Illinois, made the claim in a new anthology for math teachers, arguing that teachers must be aware of the “politics that mathematics brings” in society.

“On many levels, mathematics itself operates as Whiteness. Who gets credit for doing and developing mathematics, who is capable in mathematics, and who is seen as part of the mathematical community is generally viewed as White,” Gutierrez argued.

Gutierrez also worries that algebra and geometry perpetuate privilege, fretting that “curricula emphasizing terms like Pythagorean theorem and pi perpetuate a perception that mathematics was largely developed by Greeks and other Europeans.”

Math also helps actively perpetuate white privilege too, since the way our economy places a premium on math skills gives math a form of “unearned privilege” for math professors, who are disproportionately white.

Hey, speaking of math, we lost count of how many times we rolled our eyes reading that.