22 Matching Annotations
  1. Sep 2023
    1. Many people are frightened of mathematics and thinkthey cannot read it at all. No one is quite sure why this is so.Some psychologists think there is such a thing as "symbolblindness"-the inability to set aside one's dependence on theconcrete and to follow the controlled shifting of symbols.
  2. Jul 2023
    1. Both the cult of learning around Dante and the cult ofignorance around Newton are phenomena of the vicious spe-cialization of scholarship.

      p. xxiv

      Hutchins seems to indicate that the "vicious specialization of scholarship" is in part to blame for the emergence of the "two cultures" delineated by C. P. Snow later in the decade.

  3. May 2023
    1. It’s not everything you can imagine. You might think, “I want health. I want to be done with this broken arm. I want to be done with this arthritis. I want to be done with this macular degeneration. I want to be healed.” And you don’t get healed. You’re going to die before you get healed, and the promise of Romans 8:32 is still true. You will have what you need in order to honor him and bless people.

      When it all boils down, this section doesn't alleviate the fear of not having enough money. Instead, it is telling you that you shouldn't have this fear in the first place, because you're wrong to think you need more money.

      Christianity is very good at blaming the victim for their own problems.

  4. Nov 2022
    1. Lewis made it through a just a few tour dates before succumbing to the press and public's censure, and retreated back to the U.S. That doesn't mean that he was ever publicly regretful. His marriage to Myra lasted a decade
  5. Sep 2022
    1. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=math+demystified&i=stripbooks&crid=UM15P2ZTY84C&sprefix=math+demystified%2Cstripbooks%2C137&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

      A whole series of books from McGraw Hill whose titles all carry an implicit math shaming. Who wants to carry these books around and be seen reading them? Even the word DeMYSTiFieD on the cover is written in CLoWn case.

      • Business Math Demystified
      • Dosage Calculations and Basic Math for Nurses Demystified
      • Geometry Demystified
      • Business Calculus Demystified
      • Math Word Problems Demystified
      • Everyday Math Demystified
      • Discrete Mathematics Demystified
      • Math Proofs Demystified
      • Pre-Algebra Demystified
  6. Jul 2022
  7. Apr 2022
    1. While it was once regarded as a low-level, “primitive” instinct, researchers arecoming to recognize that imitation—at least as practiced by humans, includingvery young ones—is a complex and sophisticated capacity. Although non-humananimals do imitate, their mimicry differs in important ways from ours. Forexample, young humans’ copying is unique in that children are quite selectiveabout whom they choose to imitate. Even preschoolers prefer to imitate peoplewho have shown themselves to be knowledgeable and competent. Researchshows that while toddlers will choose to copy their mothers rather than a personthey’ve just met, as children grow older they become increasingly willing tocopy a stranger if the stranger appears to have special expertise. By the time achild reaches age seven, Mom no longer knows best.

      Studies have shown that humans are highly selective about whom they choose to imitate. Children up to age seven show a propensity to imitate their parents over strangers and after that they primarily imitate people who have shown themselves to be knowledgeable and competent within an area of expertise.


      This has applications to teaching with respect to math shaming. A teacher who says that math is personally hard for them is likely to be signaling to students that what they're teaching is not based on experience and expertise and thus demotivating the student from following and imitating their example.

  8. Jan 2022
  9. Nov 2021
    1. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/10/new-puritans-mob-justice-canceled/619818/

      Anne Applebaum looks at the ideas of public humiliation and cancel culture as a potential slippery slope toward authoritarianism. She provides numerous examples of people experiencing forms of cancel culture without any arguments for or against them, but instead explores the cultural space around it and what its consequences might possibly be.

      Many of her examples focus on spaces related to academia rather than broader life, a space which needs further exploration as the scope and shape for those may differ dramatically.

      She also brings up the broad phenomenon of "university justice" (my descriptor) and generally secret tribunals and justice administered by them rather than traditional governmental means.

      This brings up some excellent avenues for thought about who we are as a country and a liberal democracy.

      Highly recommend.

    2. Many of these investigations involve anonymous reports or complaints, some of which can come as a total surprise to those being reported upon. By definition, social-media mobs involve anonymous accounts that amplify unverified stories with “likes” and shares. The “Shitty Media Men” list was an anonymous collection of unverified accusations that became public. Procedures at many universities actually mandate anonymity in the early stages of an investigation. Sometimes even the accused isn’t given any of the details. Chua’s husband, the Yale Law professor Jed Rubenfeld, who was suspended from teaching due to sexual-harassment allegations (which he denies), says he did not know the names of his accusers or the nature of the accusations against him for a year and a half.

      How are these cases being played out differently in the social (and social media) sphere without the ability to confront your accusers with an idea of due process?

      A confounding factor also seems to be the punishment of dragging the case out for extended period of time.

  10. Oct 2021
    1. I am frequently shamed for not doing enough. Some of that comes from the right side of the [political] spectrum, but increasingly a larger share of that shaming comes from people at the opposite end of the spectrum, who are so worried and anxious about climate impacts that their response is to find anyone who isn’t doing precisely what they think they should be doing and shame them.

      Love, or recognizing the other person in the other tribe as sacred, is going to connect with that person because we are, after all, all of us are human INTERbeings, and love is the affective variable that connects us while shame is a variable that DISconnects us. Love is , in fact, one of our most powerful common human denominators.

  11. Sep 2021
    1. We teachers can help our students with this. Let them know when the most difficult work is coming. Help them prepare for that work, then admit that the challenge is real and it is difficult.

      But let's also be aware of the all-too-prevalent math shaming that occurs when we say "math is difficult". That definitely isn't productive.

  12. Aug 2021
  13. May 2021
    1. San Franciscans are mask shaming others for not wearing them outside despite recent changes in guidance by the CDC.

      The problem here is the "if" you're fully vaccinated part, which 50% or more likely still haven't done, but are going maskless anyway.

  14. Dec 2020
    1. Ergodic theory is a forbiddingly technical branch of mathematics.

      It's supremely sad that a paper in Nature should "math shame" ergodic theory this way. What the hell is going on?

  15. Jul 2020
  16. Mar 2020
  17. Sep 2018