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An American Poll

 
 
 
S

SLD

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Should schools teach Arabic numerals?

B15C5468-E828-40AD-BCB2-8D7C525F718A.png

I’m curious what people here think. I’m actually surprised that 29% agree that we should be allowing islamiacs to take over our education.

SLD
 
I'd be inclined to stick to the hindu numeral system we've got.
 
I remember way back when, The Man Show guys went out to get women to sign up to end "Women Suffrage".
 
The poll results show ignorance, but they do not show the "bigotry" the poll creators are claiming it does.
Note that while we know some of the people who said "no" are bigoted against Arabs, that is besides the point of whether a "no" response to this question reflects that bigotry.

People that do not know what Arabic numerals refers to, would rationally infer that it is some foreign numbering system not already part of our curriculum and of minimal relevance to the numeracy skills US students need. Especially, since it makes no sense to ask the question as they did if it is has always been a core, unquestioned part of our education system.

So, what the responses reflect is whether people think we should add a foreign numbering system to our curriculum? Most who said no would still say "no", if you told them it was a "Nordic" numbering system. So, it's not about bigotry, but about not wanting to add superfluous things to an already bogged down curriculum.

In fact, there are very likely people who said "yes", who also have no idea that our number system is "Arabic". They said "yes" b/c they want to add something they think is related to the Muslim culture for the sake of diversity.
 
So, they break up the results by political party and show that Republicans were more than twice as likely to answer "No".


Then, these same clowns a "CivicScience" did another survey claiming to show similar "bigotry" among Democrats.
They asked, "Should Americans schools teach the creation theory of Catholic Priest Georges Lemaritre to their science curriculum?"

Only 9% of Dems said "yes", while 29% of Republicans said "yes".

His "creation theory" is the Big Bang theory. CivicScience is running around social media claiming this shows that Dems are bigoted against Catholics, and making "just as bad" equivocations.

People just don't know who he is and rationally assume that "creation theory" refers to creationism. As with the "Arabic numeral" question, a "no" answer reflects one's beliefs about what should be part of school curriculum, not bigotry.
 
Math classes should stick to teaching equations and not indoctrinate students with racial identity politics. :mad:
 
Doing algebra in Roman numerals.... *shudder* and some people find math difficult now.
 
Tom Sawyer said:
Math classes should stick to teaching equations and not indoctrinate students with racial identity politics. :mad:
Click to expand...

Or, what most people probably meant by their "no" respsonse: "We should not add some completely different numerical system on top of what students already need to learn in math."

If they would have also asked about adding "Nordic numerals" to the curriculum, then any difference between the two questions might be reflection of the sentiment you refer to, but most people would object to that too, because it's not about the ethnic identity of the "new" system.
 
ronburgundy said:
Tom Sawyer said:
Math classes should stick to teaching equations and not indoctrinate students with racial identity politics. :mad:
Click to expand...

Or, what most people probably meant by their "no" respsonse: "We should not add some completely different numerical system on top of what students already need to learn in math."

If they would have also asked about adding "Nordic numerals" to the curriculum, then any difference between the two questions might be reflection of the sentiment you refer to, but most people would object to that too, because it's not about the ethnic identity of the "new" system.
Click to expand...

Or, what they actually mean by their "no" response - "I'm an idiot".
 
reminds me of the "ban Dihydrogen Oxide" petition that got so many signatures.
thousands of people die each year due to lung issues after exposure.
It is such a powerful substance, it is also been known to be called the "universal solvent" - now that's powerful stuff!
The FDA remains suspiciously silent on their position with what is a dangerous level of exposure to this.
nonetheless, it is one of the most prevalent substances used in manufacturing goods... even foods!
Governments have been accused of using it for their "interrogations", and the US recently banned its use in that manner.
yet, people consume relatively large amounts of it daily.
 
marc said:
Doing algebra in Roman numerals.... *shudder* and some people find math difficult now.
Click to expand...
I wanted to do an April Fools release on a program I made for work that would use Roman Numerals, but the amount of work required to translate arabic to roman was a major pain. :(
 
dismal said:
I'd be inclined to stick to the hindu numeral system we've got.
Click to expand...

il_794xN.1906729405_8nfh.jpg

No kidding. The obverse has the actual Arabic 5. Looks like a lumpy 0.
 
Tom Sawyer said:
ronburgundy said:
Tom Sawyer said:
Math classes should stick to teaching equations and not indoctrinate students with racial identity politics. :mad:
Click to expand...

Or, what most people probably meant by their "no" respsonse: "We should not add some completely different numerical system on top of what students already need to learn in math."

If they would have also asked about adding "Nordic numerals" to the curriculum, then any difference between the two questions might be reflection of the sentiment you refer to, but most people would object to that too, because it's not about the ethnic identity of the "new" system.
Click to expand...

Or, what they actually mean by their "no" response - "I'm an idiot".
Click to expand...


Being an idiot (not knowing what Arabic numerals are) is a neccessary but not sufficient basis for a "no" answer. It does NOT inherently mean one would reject a proposal to "add it" to the curriculum. Likewise, saying "yes" does not imply one is not an idiot.
There are likely idiots who don't know what "Arabic numerals" are, but who said "yes", because that sounds inclusive and in favor of diversity.

So, we know that a "no" answer requires something beyond just being an idiot. The most parsimonious explanation is that since they don't know what it is, they simply think it's something not already inherent to standard mathematics curriculum. In fact, conversational norms imply that no one would have asked them the question if it was something standard to math education the whole time.

Your joke about them being against identity politics makes the added assumption that there is something particular about the ethnic association and that if it didn't have that association people would be fine with adding it to the curriculum. That requires additional evidence and I'd argue is theoretically implausible. Conservatives are generally against changing traditional curriculum in an way.
 
ronburgundy said:
Tom Sawyer said:
Or, what they actually mean by their "no" response - "I'm an idiot".
Click to expand...


Being an idiot (not knowing what Arabic numerals are) is a neccessary but not sufficient basis for a "no" answer. It does NOT inherently mean one would reject a proposal to "add it" to the curriculum. Likewise, saying "yes" does not imply one is not an idiot.
There are likely idiots who don't know what "Arabic numerals" are, but who said "yes", because that sounds inclusive and in favor of diversity.

So, we know that a "no" answer requires something beyond just being an idiot. The most parsimonious explanation is that since they don't know what it is, they simply think it's something not already inherent to standard mathematics curriculum. In fact, conversational norms imply that no one would have asked them the question if it was something standard to math education the whole time.

Your joke about them being against identity politics makes the added assumption that there is something particular about the ethnic association and that if it didn't have that association people would be fine with adding it to the curriculum. That requires additional evidence and I'd argue is theoretically implausible. Conservatives are generally against changing traditional curriculum in an way.
Click to expand...

Holy shit, dude. You're putting a lot of effort into a response to a nothing joke post. I can't bring myself to engage with you on this subject in some kind of serious manner.
 
Tom Sawyer said:
ronburgundy said:
Tom Sawyer said:
Or, what they actually mean by their "no" response - "I'm an idiot".
Click to expand...


Being an idiot (not knowing what Arabic numerals are) is a neccessary but not sufficient basis for a "no" answer. It does NOT inherently mean one would reject a proposal to "add it" to the curriculum. Likewise, saying "yes" does not imply one is not an idiot.
There are likely idiots who don't know what "Arabic numerals" are, but who said "yes", because that sounds inclusive and in favor of diversity.

So, we know that a "no" answer requires something beyond just being an idiot. The most parsimonious explanation is that since they don't know what it is, they simply think it's something not already inherent to standard mathematics curriculum. In fact, conversational norms imply that no one would have asked them the question if it was something standard to math education the whole time.

Your joke about them being against identity politics makes the added assumption that there is something particular about the ethnic association and that if it didn't have that association people would be fine with adding it to the curriculum. That requires additional evidence and I'd argue is theoretically implausible. Conservatives are generally against changing traditional curriculum in an way.
Click to expand...

Holy shit, dude. You're putting a lot of effort into a response to a nothing joke post. I can't bring myself to engage with you on this subject in some kind of serious manner.
Click to expand...

I know your post was a "joke", but it directly reflects the very real interpretation that this poll is being given, by both the OP itself and by the company that conducted it, who are asserting the "no" responses reflect "tribalism" and "bigotry".

Thus, it's worth specifying exactly why this perspective is invalid and itself a politically biased interpretation of the results, even if you personally just threw it out for laughs. It's not all about you, Tom :)
 
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