4 ms·
I believe the general claim is that multiplication tables, and more specifically, the manner in which they are taught could disadvantage particular communities.
by genderwhy 4y ago
I believe the general claim is that multiplication tables, and more specifically, the manner in which they are taught could disadvantage particular communities.
Culturally, not every community handles rote memorization the same. There's been a desire to change the way multiplication is taught, and a strong pushback from a certain set that say, "Well, I learned multiplication tables, what's wrong with them?"
Most (good) math curriculum in elementary age now teaches many different techniques for performing the same operation. Sums, for instance, are taught in the traditional way (add the ones column, then carryover to the tens column, etc.) but they are also taught in other ways, e.g. (borrow to get to the nearest tens, add the tens together, return what you borrowed).
Kids then have a variety of approaches, must still show their work, but can use the technique that makes the most intuitive sense to them.
Like many things that get demonized online, or reduce to the absurd, there's a really interesting and systemic change happening if you take the time to understand the reasoning.
- Kranar 4y agoThe question was not about the general claim regarding childhood education and the multitude of ways that children can learn mathematics. A specific claim was made that matrix multiplication is racist. Children don't learn about matrices to begin with, so discussing childhood math education is irrelevant. Can someone cite a source to such a claim?
- genderwhy 4y agoI was asserting that the parent comment was misremembering, misquoting, or mistaken. There are no claims that "Matrix multiplication is racist". There are claims regarding multiplication tables. So the parent probably meant "Multiplication tables are racist!". Which, again, is a reduction/strawman.
- Kranar 4y agoCan you cite a source to a claim that multiplication tables are racist? All I managed to find was one book called "Multiplication is for White People." but it's not actually about multiplication tables or even math specifically. The title is a quote from a child that the author taught and is a broader book about the U.S. education system and its growing achievement gap.