Does Math Make White People Smarter?

Over the past few months, the term “white privilege” has been thrown around a lot. Like most people, I really don’t know what that is supposed to mean. The other day I was driving to the store and I saw a homeless man who was white panhandling for money, what was his privilege, getting his own corner to beg on?

In the news the other day I was reading that a math professor at the University of Illinois says the ability to solve geometry and algebra problems and teaching such subjects perpetuates so-called white privilege. This professor says, “School mathematics curricula emphasizing terms like Pythagorean Theorem and pi perpetuate a perception that mathematics was largely developed by Greeks and other Europeans.” Uh… what?

She also said, “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.” I hated math, I was terrible at it and I always failed it when I was in school, and as I said I am white.

She also points out that mathematics operates as a proxy for intelligence, but asks, “are we really that smart just because we do mathematics?” My answer is yes, I would think that a person that can wiz through things like algebra will have a higher IQ than someone like me who hates math.

And speaking of white privilege a student accepted to Yale University who posted her big news on Facebook wasn’t congratulated but shamed, for what one critic called her “white privilege.”

This student explained that she grew up in foster care after her alcoholic parents gave her up when she was 5 years old. She continued: “I had to take care of my brother for 2 years until we got adopted, and then we were both abused by that family and had to go back into the orphanage for another 2 years.” BRAVO FOR HER.

This privilege thing seems backwards – has anyone heard of affirmative action? Aren’t there special laws for minorities? Aren’t there quota systems especially for minorities? And some have the nerve to say that there is white privilege, give me a break. How many times have we seen minorities with lower test scores get pushed ahead of someone with a higher score only because they weren’t white?

My father told me many years ago, that there will always be people looking to tear you down just to make themselves look bigger; I hope that student who was accepted to Yale realizes that.

This is one man’s opinion.