Can math be racist? What’s happening in Oregon and why Christians should care

Something just doesn’t add up in Oregon.

Following trends in our postmodern “woke” culture that seek to discard any evidence of objective truth, Oregon’s Department of Education announced that it would promote “dismantling racism” in its math classes. The reason? To pursue “math equity” and to improve “engagement [and] equitable outcomes for Black, Latinx, and multilingual students.”

To achieve this purpose, the Oregon Dept. of Education has created the “Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction,” a “toolkit” to enable educators to combat the “racism” and “white supremacy” which, they claim, is inherent in the way math has been taught in American schools.

The problem, they say, are the “toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture with respect to math.” What “toxic characteristics” are in math, you ask? The “toolkit” describes five of these traits, and topping the list are the claims that current education methods focus “on getting the ‘right’ answer” and use “participation in structures that reinforce dominant ways of being.”

Also, they say, white supremacy is evident in math assessments when students are required to show their work and when grading policies are “focusing on lack of knowledge.”

In addition, the toolkit states “The concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false, and teaching it is even much less so. Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict.” Rather than teach that math has objective outcomes, teachers are encouraged to “center ethnomathematics,” which includes a variety of guidelines. One such guideline instructs educators to “identify and challenge the ways that math is used to uphold capitalist, imperialist, and racist views.”

In other words, teachers are encouraged to include in their instruction their own biases and prejudices and socialist leanings, serving an agenda to downgrade math into a sociological exercise that evokes “being” rather than requires objective thinking and accountability.

But aside from the confusion that students will suffer at the hands of this progressive agenda, is there any reason that Christians should be particularly alarmed by the subjectivizing of mathematics in education?

After all, maybe like me you are more at home typing on a keyboard than clicking on a calculator. I love language, communicating verbally, and the artful precision of finely tuned prose. Maybe you do, too.

So why should you care if math is turned inside-out, and math education becomes a subjective postmodern enterprise?

You should care because math is evidence of a Designer. Math transcends circumstances, feelings, and politics. That is, it exists universally outside of human nature. We did not invent math. But we use it. And every human being can use math and trust math because it always works, all the time, the same way.

In fact, the existence of math is somewhat of a mystery. Math is woven into the creation so tightly that we take it for granted. Its presence reminds us of the Creator’s hand, of His perfection and His precision and His indelible impression on His creation (Rom. 1:20, Heb. 1:10).

When we use mathematics, we are constantly reminded that the world is bigger than we are. Language is tied to human nature, circumstances, and cultures. Math is not. Language gives us the words to a song, but math turns it into music.

So, there is no reason to “pursue math equity.” Math is already objective, so, by its nature, equitable to all who use it. Math has no prejudice or problems with your attitude, skill, or skin color. It is a reminder of absolutes. And math, like all objective truth, exists outside of us and permits us all to play on a level field. We all agree on these things, and when we do, we work in concert with creation. Like all absolutes, math raises the lowly and humbles the proud. Math is among those sobering realities we cannot ignore, tweak, or mold to meet our own agendas.

Maybe my neighbor is an engineer, and maybe I can barely balance my checkbook. But math doesn’t care. Math works the same way for both of us. Math doesn’t misstate the facts, disagree with our whims, or judge our appearance.

No matter how we try, we cannot escape the fact that there are actual absolutes that exist independent of our feelings, preferences, or opinions. And math is a constant reminder that a Mind greater than the human mind is at work in the world.

And that is exactly why progressive postmodernists hate math. They despise the objectivity of it. Not because it lacks equality, but because math reveals pure, universal equity, and reminds the student that absolute truth exists.

Did you notice that Oregon claims that the “concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false”? Or how about this, “Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict.”

You just can’t get away from it. Even denying absolutes requires the use of absolutes. To claim there is no “right” or “wrong” or “true” and “false,” educators have to affirm that “right” and “wrong” exist.

Deny it with words, but in practice we cannot get away from it. True is true, and false is false. It is woven into our spiritual DNA, our creation, and our relationship with God.

So, inside we all know—it matters if you get it wrong. Can you imagine hiring a CPA who thinks that math is subjective? That numbers can add up any way she likes, and she can jettison the numbers that fail to fit her “woke” agenda? Or what about NASA? Do they want “woke” mathematicians to determine the reentry of rockets? Do you want the chemist in the lab that tests your blood work to come out of a system that teaches that objectivity is racist? Or your spouse to “balance” the checkbook after going to school in Oregon?

See, the objectivity of math is not a reminder of our inequities. Math is a reminder that we are sinners. Math isn’t racist. People are. Math doesn’t fudge the numbers, lie, or embezzle. People do.  Like so much of postmodern progressive woke-ism, the agenda in Oregon is a smokescreen. It is a way around the core human problem. Math is not the problem. People are.

People who use math can use it in a racist way. So, objective truth is not the problem. But our denial of objectivity and truth creates more problems than it solves.

Seeking right and wrong answers makes us better, not worse. Progressives demoralize humanity by removing the human responsibility and the achievement that goes along with getting the answers right. We should teach students the joy of working in concert with God’s design. Math gives all students a chance at outward and unprejudiced achievement.

Education should be designed to elevate humanity and enrich our lives. Now it is being retooled to divide us and demean us. At least, that’s what is happening in Oregon. Let’s be sure it doesn’t happen anywhere else. Not just for our sakes. But for the sake of math.

’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.’ This is the Lord’s declaration

Is. 55:8