The Brookings Register is messing with its online readers’ heads. As I scroll through their website, they throw me a poll asking, “Should schools in America teach Arabic Numerals as part of their curriculum?”
The poll asks a couple other questions, then throws some dihydrogen monoxide on the Shariaphobia evident in the responses:
As of XVI:XX this afternoon, LVII per cento of MMMMLXXIV respondents oppose teaching children those sinister Arabic numerals. Another XIV per cento chose not to register an opinion on this controversial question of Arabic influence in education.
Your Saturday afternoon challenge is to think of any good (i.e., not bigoted or ignorant) reason for anyone to respond NO to this poll question. Indian nationalists demanding proper recognition for their role in creating our number system? Binary devotees?
Brookings residents were also asked, “Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?”. Not surprising, some 29% thought subsidy instead of Grant and were unsure of the need for schooling anyway. 14% did not know that Grant had even died or who he was in the first place. Numbers don’t lie even if they are Arabic.
I don’t want to see results of a poll asking whether the metric system is a socialist plot to destroy America.
Fear makes people think, say, and do stupid things
So what’s wrong with good old American numbers, like roman numerals. We don’t need no stinkin Ay-Rab numbers. Just my II cents worth.
I wonder what the response would be to teaching French, Spanish, German or other foreign language?
This kind of nonsense is getting out of control…just WHAT do they think we’ve been using all these years????
This sounds like a re-run of You Bet Your Life. Groucho always had a “consolation prize” question. What color is an orange? Who’s buried …? How long is a ten-foot pole.
I’m afraid that many members of our state of North Missisippiota would fail.
They definately are also incapable of driving: To go forward choose “D,” to go backwards choose “R.”
As a math teacher who shares some of the history of mathematics, this is nothing short of FANTASTIC! I’d feel ashamed about the lack of knowledge of our number system development, but I’m too busy laughing…lol!
🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
well, it DOES explain the adverse reaction to science…
Roman numerals eh, you crafty devil!
I saw a poll about twenty years ago – that my guess is still most likely relevant or indicative – which stated 76% of the respondents didn’t think a suspect should be considered innocent until proven guilty.
Unknowingly, I think it is fair to say that such respondents were advocates of Roman law and perhaps Roman numerals as well…
Kal Lis, that sort of branding toward ignorance and fear lies at the base of the corporate-fascist effort to make us think that responding to climate change is a socialist plot. By playing to ignorance and fear, our Trumpist corporate overlords make rednecks feel macho for standing in the way of intelligent policymakers who are trying to save the planet.
See also Don Kopp’s risible resolution in 2010 denying that climate change exists (based in part on a dubious claim about 31,000 “scientists” signing a petition denying climate change evidence) and celebrating carbon dioxide as “the gas of life.” Our current Governor, Kristi Noem, was in the House with Don Kopp when he proposed 2010 HCR 1009, and she voted for the resolution in its original absurd form.
Dan, obviously, I support the Empire. Hail, Caesar!
The Roman Empire never “died”. You’ve been taught a lie all these years. The Roman Empire simply has sort of “morphed” or transitioned from a traditional nation or empire to a more ethereal form – The Roman Catholic Church – which is the wealthiest of all organizations on Earth and reaches into every backwardly organized country. It was the originator of the concept of globalization as a new form of governing. Those poor little nations and their local concerns – let them fool themselves onto believing they are the ultimate.
I think this whole adaptation of the Arabic Numbers thing is simply part of the “allowed” delusion of national independence.
There – there’s my crazy theory for the day.
Roman numerals are a popeist plot to take over our financial cistern.
These are the people that claim to know what socialism is? Backwater bigots!
~ also … The dihydrogen monoxide parody involves calling water by the unfamiliar chemical name “dihydrogen monoxide”, or “hydroxylic acid” in some cases, and listing some of water’s well-known effects in a particularly alarming manner, such as accelerating corrosion and causing suffocation. :0)
That 57 percent are probably the same folks who approve of the job Trump is doing. Hillary was partly right: they ARE deplorable, but they also have nulla IQ. There is no Roman numeral for zero.
The lack of a zero is a serious shortcoming of Roman numerals, especially if we’re going to discuss the intelligence and/or intellectual honesty of Trump voters.
Jerry,
Who is buried in Grant’s tomb? The obvious answer is General U. S. Grant. The complete answer his Grant and his wife. Another one, which weighs more a pound of gold or a pound of hamburger? The simple answer is they weigh the same, also incorrect. They are weighed in different systems of measure one avoirdupois and the other troy. So obvious isn’t always accurate or complete. The law for the metric system to be the standard of weights and measures was passed in 1866. I am full of useless trivia, I apologize for this.
I’m probably biased being Italian but I think Roman numerals are the way to go
Well, which Arabic Numeral system did the Brookings Register mean?
Western Arabic?
Eastern Arabic?
Hindu-Arabic?
Urdu?
Abjad?
Looking at the Brookings Register, I don’t think they have that explanation text to disambiguate the question available prior to submitting your vote.
Francis, I like to call myself A Font of Useless Knowledge. I kill at Jeopardy!, except math and Shakespeare categories. I never liked the Bard.
Anyway, it’s fun, but I try not to get obnoxious about it. Sometimes I fail. 😉
Speaking of Useless, Wayne, I worked with a Pakistani woman who spoke Urdu. Such a lovely sounding language, very soft. They have no “v” sound, so she lived in Rapid City, Chapel Walley neighborhood.
Of course they should be taught…
just rename them freedom numerals.
Mr. Schaeffer, what is the speed of dark? On the same line, what is a day without sunshine?
I think it’s pretty obvious that they didn’t know the term referred to the numerical system that we currently use or perhaps they read it quickly and were thinking of Arabic writing instead. Either way, they didn’t see it as a good use of time, because they saw it as having limited utility in students’ adult lives. Sometimes, the innocent explanation is actually the right one.
Ignorance is not innocent. Neither is bigotry.
Here’s an article about who conducted the poll: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/arabic-numerals-survey-prejudice-bias-survey-research-civic-science-a8918256.html
Most kids have a hard enough time with regular math.teach it so it will remain with them for a lifetime. Stick to basic math