Justice yet to come...
Three Canadian professors recently penned an editorial in an influential academic journal arguing that teaching students STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) helps perpetuate “patriarchy,” “heteronormativity,” and other social ills.
Led by University of Alberta professor Marc Higgins, the research editorial “Displacing Methodologies in STEM Education: Theory for Eco-Social Justice” argues that STEM education practices, called “methodologies,” reinforce a variety of social ills.
STEM education practices — such as the traditional way of teaching math — produce “patriarchy, heteronormativity, white supremacy, Eurocentrism, (neo-)colonialism, able-ism, classism, labor inequity, anthropocentrism, and/or others,” the professors claim.
While Higgins declined an interview to clarify, other academics have made similar arguments. Most notable is a University of Illinois academic, who argued that algebra and geometry skills perpetuate “unearned privilege” among white people.
