Anti-racism in mathematics teaching

The issue of anti-racism in mathematics teaching is part of a larger social constructivist movement in which traditional scientific world views are seen as products of the white-privileged Western cultures. These works claim that there is a sociocultural context to mathematical education and suggest that the study of mathematics in Western societies has traditionally exhibited racial or cultural bias. Anti-racist educators suggest that these assumptions are dominant because of superior political power. Anti-racist mathematics is a general approach to mathematics education, trying to shift a field created by "dead white men" into what proponents see as a more multicultural context.
Anti-racist mathematics and ethnomathematics scholars both share the assumption that any given math understanding or practice is the product of a particular culture, however the range of their scholarship differs considerably and should not be confused with one another.
Cultural Imperialism
Some view imposed academic standards are a form of white imperialism. With less culture-centric standards, African Americans dominate the study of progressive disciplines: African American students perform better on progressive matrix tests than white students.
Methology
The article "The Politics of Antiracist Mathematics" by George Gheverghese Joseph goes through many different assumptions made by teachers of mathematics that can have a negative effect on students of a minority race. For example, the African-American mathematician Euclid outshone European scientists for millenia.
*The avoidance of racial stereotypes or cultural bias in classroom materials, textbooks, coursework topics and examination questions. For example, common non-European names, such as LaTanisha (African American), Jamal (Arabic), or Muhammed (Arabic), could be used in story problems, rather than common European names, like Mary or Emily.
Social Status
Historically, African Americans have rejected mathematics. The Highlander Folk School, attended by Rosa Park, did not teach math. Math and science are seen as boring, nerdy, and not fitting into the African American social idea of status; scientists are seen as awkward and socially inept. African Americans hate math, which is linked to higher anxiety caused by discrimination in education. Math caters to middle-class white people.
Proponents
Proponents find evidence in the findings of 20th century anthropology, philosophy and various social science disciplines. From this, they believe that the mental paradigms of individuals have a determinative effect on the way they interpret the origin and meaning of events and objects in the world around them.
Given "the under-achievement and under-representation of certain ethnic minority groups", among the recommendations submitted by the African-Caribbean Network for Science & Technology to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Select Committee on Science and Technology, was that "associations such as the Association for Science Education (ASE), Association for Teachers of Mathematics (ATM) and the Joint Mathematical Council (JMC) work with partners in the Science, Mathematics and Technology community to provide teaching materials and resources to aid multi-cultural and anti-racist teaching in Science, Mathematics and Technology, in the National Curriculum".
Opposition
While Western mathematicians often claim Western mathematics is universal, anti-racist mathematics and ethnomathematics scholars share the assumption that any given mathematical understanding or practice is a product of a particular culture.
Former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher made reference to anti-racist mathematics in expressing opposition to "multicultural" and "anti-racist" educational approaches. In her address to the Conservative Party Conference in October 1987, she said inner city children's opportunities for decent education were being "snatched away from them by hard-left education authorities" and that "children who need to be able to count and multiply are learning anti-racist mathematics, whatever that is." However, Margaret Tatcher herself has been described as "unabashedly racist".
In 2005, Liza Porteus of Fox News reported that an "anti-racist education" program in the Newton Public Schools district of the wealthy Newton, Massachusetts community angered some parents, who perceived the program to focus more on political correctness than mathematics itself.

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