Cobb: Innumeracy and Angry White Math

April 26, 2003

Innumeracy and Angry White Math

Kevin Drum suggests that some backing off of advanced math should be appropriate for high schoolers. I suppose that depends upon what one considers advanced math. There are so many different skills that get packed under the rubric of mathematics and scientific thinking that I believe we should break them out. So if you don't take calculus, then perhaps you should take 'critical thinking'. The guys over at Innumeracy.com have done a great job in breaking out some of the subjects that are very important, even though they may not help one integrate by power series.

I tend to disagree that history and geography should take precedence, primarily because they are directed at ancient history in such a way as to render the meaning of things in the present marginal. A school that would have me study the Punic Wars but not be able to come correct on the difference between the Black Consciousness movement and Pan Africanism is not fulfilling its role as a public institution molding citizenry.

I for one, would like to have people deal with facts and figures and understand the difference between causation and coincidence. Innumeracy produces Angry White Math, which would not be displaced by any amount of geography or history. Issues like Affirmative Action and racial profiling are directly impacted by peoples' [in]ability to put numbers in context. People need to think through problems, and quantify the impact of events by putting numbers in perspective. That's never been part of any kind of history class I've had. History, especially at the high school level is rather like a set of received facts which are subject to the barfback method. OK maybe I put myself in Alexander the Great's shoes and think which way I should direct my armies, but is that really useful. Nothing speaks to this lack in the American public than the extended speculation about Halliburton and oil money. If people were capable of some simple crude calculations, perhaps we wouldn't trust regimes of truth and falsity so easily.

What could be more important to a democracy?

Posted by mbowen at April 26, 2003 02:02 PM

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