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Applications of math can be harmful when there is no moral angle. Is it right that a factory should dump toxic waste if it can improve its margins - thereby making the market more efficient but society worse off? I don't think so. I think I made this point poorly - but I'm not talking about math inherently.
But this has nothing to do with math education.
In fact, math education makes you better at abstract thinking and looking beyond immediate gains.
You can't just use that to broadly assert men are better than women. In fact, there is no such dichotomy - it is much more complex then that.
When math gets hard enough, men consistently outperform women.
Girls do better only at lower level, and it is true for all subjects not just math. It is especially true in places where math requirement is low (like some Arab countries).
Of course, there are always exceptions. Some girls are math geniuses etc. but that is not the point here.
When math gets hard enough, men consistently outperform women.
Girls do better only at lower level, and it is true for all subjects not just math. It is especially true in places where math requirement is low (like some Arab countries).
Of course, there are always exceptions. Some girls are math geniuses etc. but that is not the point here.
You don't need to place first in the Putnam to make useful contributions in STEM. Regardless, I think we shouldn't be in the business of telling people what they can't do. Meaning, I dislike when people say only men can be math geniuses. In part, that's why many American women don't pursue mathematics.
standards that required students graduate high school with basic math skills are going the way of the Dodo in some states like NY. I read the following article this weekend reflecting math requirments for high school graduates:
The bar keeps dropping on state math exams.....
Kids only need to score a measly 30 percent on this month’s Algebra 1 Regents test to pass, according to new state guidelines.
Students who manage just 26 out of 86 total points will get a heavily weighted score of 65 — the minimum required for passage.
That’s the lowest standard since the state introduced the test four years ago.
Not sure how you concluded that; in fact - he says the opposite. In the paper he notes that women outperform men in places like the Middle East and some Pacific Islands. Moreover, in general - disparities are between men and women are not pronounced in Eastern and Latin American countries, places where the stigma of STEM for women is not strong. In short, he's not saying women can't preform well in mathematics, he's saying that for many reasons - women in America don't pursue mathematics. That's empirically true.
Please read the paper before commenting next time.
Fair enough, I misread that snippet.
However, there is no way in heck I'm going to read the guys manifesto....social structures aren't the fault of math after all.
I guess I don’t need to care any more that blacks are 5 x more likely to be incarcerated as whites. I need to “detach” myself from that “calculated” reasoning.
Yep. Can't have them not graduate so they just lower the standards.
Oh well, the ones down toward the bottom weren't destined for a STEM field anyway.
as you know, basic math skills aren't required just for a job in the stem field. a carpenter, a seamstress, a chef, and many, many other non-stem jobs require basic math skills. but hey, these kids get a high school diploma, a diploma which is increasing worth less than the paper on which it is printed. schools can then tout their high graduation statistics.....the irony.....
Heh, the best mathematician in our family is a girl. She's head and shoulders above the rest of us, which is likely why she's pursuing her engineering degree with a minor in math. Is she a genius? Hardly. She's very bright but not a genius. I'd say the difference was access to excellent math instruction from elementary through high school and a better work ethic than most of her peers.
OK, so was it my fault when I gave the clerk $20.10 to pay for my $12.05 purchase and she only keyed in $20.00. Upon realizing realizing she should have keyed $20.10 she had absolutely no idea how to do the math to arrive at what my correct change should be? Is it possible she took too many math classes and it harmed her to the point that she now has income inequality because operating a cash register is probably a couple notches too high up the economic hierarchy for her? Is this living proof of how harmful math can be?
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