For those who find this and ask the question "What does math have to do with white supremacy?", I will attempt to try and lay out the argument. I'm going to assume you're asking this question in good faith.
I understand that the phrase "white supremacy" is equated with the idea that "people who identify as white are superior" (bad). I also understand the immediate reaction is to possibly think "I am not a bad person and I identify as white, so there must be something wrong here". When you then tie it to a concept like math, the next thought then tends to go to "how can a concept, not a person, like math, inherit a bad human trait like superiority"? It can't, so therefore there must be something wrong with these ideas.
First, the argument is not referring to a person, but a culture. Another way to think about it is a system. In this context, the system simply refers to the current methods of teaching.
If we all agree that the goal is to encourage as many people as possible to participate in STEM, enjoy it, thrive in it, and feel supported in it and we all agree that the data and studies show that our current system could be improved to accomplish this goal, the next conclusion is to criticize the system of which we teach fundamental concepts, like math.
Within our current system (or culture), we teach math a certain way. Some of those ways emphasize independent practice, mistakes are failure, teaching concepts linearly, and/or grading students based on what they don't know.
Because a lot of us learned this way and we are in the STEM field, we may ask ourselves "what is wrong with that?"
The argument is not that you don't have a legitimate question. The argument is that stopping at the question does not achieve the goal. After years and years of social science study of what prevents people of color from getting into STEM fields (if you don't believe these studies exist, that is ok, but only encourage your own investigation), the argument of "white supremacy culture in math" is providing points of how to center the experiences of people in color within the curriculum of teaching math to increase the thing we all seem to claim we want: the pipeline.
As a Black man, its really hard to be a part of this community and see people argue that is a pipeline problem, see scholars provide solutions to address the pipeline, then see those same people say "but why do we have to change anything, why is this relevant?"
At this point, it just feels like some people actually don't want a solution. Even if this doesn't work, why are we afraid to try? Isn't that the point of being part of the scientific community?
Instead, we're stuck demonizing the motives of people we don't know who are trying to help others who may be outside of our own bubble.
Sorry, but you didn't answer the question you set out to answer. What does mathematics or the way its taught have to do with white supremacy?
> After years and years of social science study of what prevents people of color from getting into STEM fields (if you don't believe these studies exist, that is ok, but only encourage your own investigation), the argument of "white supremacy culture in math" is providing points of how to center the experiences of people in color within the curriculum of teaching math to increase the thing we all seem to claim we want: the pipeline.
"Prevents"? Surely there are physicists and mathematicians graduating in majority non-white countries. Somehow I doubt they teach mathematics in a radically different way. If that's the case then I don't see how doing anything to the curriculum could have any effect.
After reading your comment a few times, I still don't see the argument for why it makes sense to partition simply based on race. At best it's a proxy for real personal difficulties, but at worst it's just another top-down cookie cutter model that will precess and oppress the individuals it claims to help.
Anybody that has gone to school or otherwise suffered an institution is keenly aware that the major failure mode of institutions is trying to push top-down models that don't respect the individual details of their members. Taking it as a given that different people have their own individual learning style - why wouldn't we want to, for each individual, determine a teaching approach that best suits them? There will likely be correlation between race and learning style, but why should we take that as a fundamental given and leave behind all of those students who don't fit that simple model?
For example, from page 10 of the pdf you linked:
> Design homework policies that are responsive to the lives of students of color in order to support their learning needs.
Shouldn't homework policies be responsive to all students home lives? What is special about "of color" that makes for a different home life, beyond being correlated to other qualities that would be more appropriate to speak in terms of?
I'll give you that there is an issue of latent racism where a teacher will/may be less understanding to a minority, but it seems like addressing this issue directly makes more sense, rather than thinking it will fall out of some overabstracted general concern. Reading that pdf gives me the same exact feeling I had reading "literature" in college that mostly consisted of ambiguous postmodern rambling, where the only winning move was to regurgitate the themes and phrases the professor themselves had said. Such antirealism is not a foundation for reforming society.
(Having said that, I think this "CRT" political trope is mostly just a bogeyman)
There are two great responses here that read your points and the source material and come to the same conclusion. You have not made a point.
Why not try? Because this is the wrong method. Kids hardly learn math as it is. Confounding their learning with other factors will only make the whole situation worse.
Read these comments and try to understand why people are opposed to these methods. Force divisive topics into the classroom and no one will learn
I understand that the phrase "white supremacy" is equated with the idea that "people who identify as white are superior" (bad). I also understand the immediate reaction is to possibly think "I am not a bad person and I identify as white, so there must be something wrong here". When you then tie it to a concept like math, the next thought then tends to go to "how can a concept, not a person, like math, inherit a bad human trait like superiority"? It can't, so therefore there must be something wrong with these ideas.
If you look at the curriculum text from equitablemath.org and peek at page 9: https://equitablemath.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11..., there is a nuance here that I'm hoping to clarify to those who may feel the above.
First, the argument is not referring to a person, but a culture. Another way to think about it is a system. In this context, the system simply refers to the current methods of teaching.
If we all agree that the goal is to encourage as many people as possible to participate in STEM, enjoy it, thrive in it, and feel supported in it and we all agree that the data and studies show that our current system could be improved to accomplish this goal, the next conclusion is to criticize the system of which we teach fundamental concepts, like math.
Within our current system (or culture), we teach math a certain way. Some of those ways emphasize independent practice, mistakes are failure, teaching concepts linearly, and/or grading students based on what they don't know.
Because a lot of us learned this way and we are in the STEM field, we may ask ourselves "what is wrong with that?"
The argument is not that you don't have a legitimate question. The argument is that stopping at the question does not achieve the goal. After years and years of social science study of what prevents people of color from getting into STEM fields (if you don't believe these studies exist, that is ok, but only encourage your own investigation), the argument of "white supremacy culture in math" is providing points of how to center the experiences of people in color within the curriculum of teaching math to increase the thing we all seem to claim we want: the pipeline.
As a Black man, its really hard to be a part of this community and see people argue that is a pipeline problem, see scholars provide solutions to address the pipeline, then see those same people say "but why do we have to change anything, why is this relevant?"
At this point, it just feels like some people actually don't want a solution. Even if this doesn't work, why are we afraid to try? Isn't that the point of being part of the scientific community?
Instead, we're stuck demonizing the motives of people we don't know who are trying to help others who may be outside of our own bubble.