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The MoA Week In Review – OT 2021-086
Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz – 17:24 UTC · Nov 6, 2021
All you need to know about Russiagate is that it began with unsubstantiated claims made by the US intelligence cartel and ended in cold war escalations against a nation long targeted by the US intelligence cartel. All the rest was just unethical political and media opportunism.
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Other issues:
Woke watch:
Lee Fang @lhfang – 5:15 UTC · Nov 6, 2021
There are so many extreme voices in the CA curriculum. The standards cite Prof. D. B. Martin to claim a colorblind approach to math promotes inequality. If you look up Martin, he believes math education is a project of “violent white supremacy and racial capitalism.”
> [T]oday’s “left,” in media and academia and elsewhere, has abandoned absolutely core commitments related to goals, policy, and process, and slandered anyone who hasn’t.
…
A commitment to moral universalism of course demands that these historical oppressions be addressed, until these groups reach the position of equality, at which point their rights will simply be defended like everyone else’s. But today’s liberal practice, if not the explicit ideology, demands that we must relentlessly prioritize some groups over others, and that spending time or energy devoted to those outside of these groups is somehow to take the side of oppression. <
Covid-19:
- Mistakes made (vid) – A. Kekule / Pandemic Forum, University of Vienna
European Union:
Use as open thread …
Today’s the 104th anniversary of the October Revolution. I found two articles (with photos) in passing – one from the Communist Party of Vietnam’s official newspaper (Nhan Dan) and the other from the Venezuelan State News (TelesurTV):
Major milestones of Russian October Revolution through photos
Los principales logros de la Revolución Socialista de Octubre
Recommend both reads.
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Profile: Xi Jinping, the man who leads CPC on new journey
After Deng Xiaoping’s death, an unspoken consensus was established in the CPC so as to avoid the lamentable episode of Mao’s succession. It was as follows: the two main factions of the CPC – the “Shanghai Gang” (who favor the development of the productive forces at all costs) and the “Communist Youth” (who favor the more social/political reforms aimed at immediate socialist emulation) – alternated in power for ten years each.
This “two-head” consensus lasted until Hu Jintao (who was a member of the “Communist Youth” faction). Xi Jinping should be from the “Gang of Shanghai”, but, instead, he started to govern like a mixed chairman, using both “Gang of Shanghai” and “Communist Youth” principles. The reason for that is very simple: Xi Jinping was grown as a “princeling” and ideologically on the side of the “Gang of Shanghai”, but his family fell into disgrace during the Cultural Revolution. As a result, the spoiled student from the coast was “exiled” to work in a rural village in China’s countryside, where he grew up into his early adulthood.
It’s no surprise Xi Jinping ended the “10 years alternation” consensus. China can have the best of the two worlds and he’s the founder of this new synthesis. The USSR had no such malleability – not even close (attempts were made since Krushchev, but without success) – that’s why China still exists and the USSR does not; that’s why China survived 1989 and the USSR did not.
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“The world’s factory” is more than capable in securing sufficient supplies of daily necessities
Humanity managed to dominate nature to its own advantage by being predictable and consistent. The Feudal system was superior to the Slavery system of Antiquity because it gave stability to the food producers (the serf was tied to a certain piece of land eternally, so he had every motivation to cultivate it the best way possible, in the most sustainable and productive way possible, as his children would also live in this piece of land). Capitalism was superior to Feudalism because it expanded this stability to manufacture (and, dialectically, it made land productivity even better, because manufacture eventually rose productivity of the land).
Industry is the historically progressive factor of capitalism. That YOLO logic of the unicorns of the Silicon Valley is worth shit in the real world. The Postmodern frenzy/delirium of the “immaterial labor” that creates “intangible value” that “cannot be accounted” is pure bullshit. It is the average worker, working a tedious job, that makes the world function, every day, every week, every year. It is only when the person wakes up already knowing exactly what he/she needs to do in order to socially function that the development of the productive forces happen. It is the tedious, monotonous labor, made by the average worker, that is the bread and butter of revolution, not those middle class, white collar freaks who are all talk.
The greatest weapon of the homo sapiens is anticipation. The homo sapiens thrives on constancy and predictability. That’s why we were able to dominate and exterminate much stronger and much more beautiful creatures than us. The homo sapiens is frail, weak and ugly – but it is a devastating creature when given time and resources in its hands. Marx was the first to realize that, and, for practical purposes, I recommend reading Lenin’s famous “electrification” speech, where he starts with exactly that.
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Taiwan question will eventually be solved with China’s growing comprehensive strength
Western analysts are aping for some inevitable great war against China in the island of Taiwan – for obvious reasons.
But the fact on the field is very clear: China has the advantage of escalation in such conflict, including the advantage of the status quo (i.e. the advantage of peace). That’s why Hu Xijin speaks about a “war of words” over Taiwan, and not a hot war.
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China urges to speed up vaccination especially for minors aged 3-11 as COVID-19 resurgence continues
The world is nicer to you when you have a solid, safe vaccine.
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I agree with this Global Times Editorial:
Feeble imitation of China cannot help US in major infrastructure building: Global Times editorial
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Gas crisis in Moldova exposes problems in relations with Russia – Moldovan President
So, let me get this straight: Moldova already had a debt of USD 700 million which it proudly refused to pay to Gazprom; it proudly followed the EU’s new gas prices policy; it then tried to aggressively “ask” for an absurdly low gas price to Gazprom when the gas crisis hit (it wants a USD 200.00 price, when the market price is at the USD 500.00 level).
And the Moldovan president has the audacity to blame all of this on Russia?
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Russia and China are looking to deepen engagement in various domains by Danil Bochkov, for CGTN
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Tripolar world? I’m waiting for the balkanization of the USA:
Democrats Thought They Bottomed Out in Rural, White America. It Wasn’t the Bottom.
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For fuck’s sake, man, stop it:
The Mystery of ‘Havana Syndrome’ by Serge Schmemann, for the NYT
The CIA and the US diplomatic corps are just humiliating themselves by dragging this shameful conspiracy theory.
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When your bourgeois economy theory goes down the drain, blame “psychology”:
Americans Are Flush With Cash and Jobs. They Also Think the Economy Is Awful.
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Trade turnover between Russia & China tops pre-pandemic figures despite traffic jams at border crossings
Where there’s value, there’s a way. Marx’s theory is correct.
Yes, in this specific case, wider roads, more trains and less bureaucracy will solve the problem. The economic fundamentals (as stated by the Value Theory) are there.
Posted by: vk | Nov 7 2021 18:23 utc | 16
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 7 2021 21:11 utc | 35
I’m disappointed in your interpretation of my comment not solely because I normally always agree with you on most topics.
“Since calculus is really only needed for STEM careers…”
Then we don’t need to offer it in our schools because it is just STEM. Who needs that?
I think a look back at the article in question is the best answer to your concern. First, no I don’t agree with completely doing away with calculus as an optional course in high school and very few other people do either. Furthermore, yes, we don’t *need* to offer calculus in high school to have a population that tests well in math and science compared to other countries. States and school districts should make that decision. As I mentioned, I would have been far better off (at least for a few semesters) in my engineering program if I’d tackled statistics and/or data science in high school. I don’t know that you’re correct when you say that the versions of statistics and d.s. are not actually math at all because I haven’t reviewed the proposed curricula, but statistics if taught the way I was taught, is not an easy subject and I think better paves the way for a STEM higher education than calculus, which again I have no problem keeping as an option (CA apparently agrees, see excerpt below) for those students who want to take it in high school.
Like some of the attempted reforms of decades past, the draft of the California guidelines favored a more conceptual approach to learning: more collaborating and problem solving, less memorizing formulas.
It also promoted something called de-tracking, which keeps students together longer instead of separating high achievers into advanced classes before high school.
The San Francisco Unified School District already does something similar. There, middle school math students are not split up but rather take integrated courses meant to build their understanding year by year, though older high school students can still opt into high-level classes like calculus.
Sophia Alemayehu, 16, a high school junior in San Francisco, advanced along that integrated track even though she did not always consider herself a gifted math student. She is now taking advanced calculus.
“In eighth and ninth grade, I had teachers tell me, ‘Oh, you’re actually really good at the material,’” she said. “So it made me think, maybe I’m good at math.”
The model has been in place since 2014, yielding a few years of data on retention and diversity that has been picked over by experts on both sides of the de-tracking debate. And while the data is complicated by numerous variables — a pandemic now among them — those who support San Francisco’s model say it has led to more students, and a more diverse set of students, taking advanced courses, without bringing down high achievers.
(grain of salt obviously required given the proponents are the ones saying it. I haven’t seen the data and it’s possible I wouldn’t be qualified to interpret it correctly if I did.)
And regarding calculus being ‘disappeared’ entirely (it isn’t going to be):
According to data from the Education Department, calculus is not even offered in most schools that serve a large number of Black and Latino students.
The role of calculus has been a talking point among math educators for years, said Trena Wilkerson, the president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. “If calculus is not the be-all, end-all thing, then we need everyone to understand what the different pathways can be, and how to prepare students for the future,” she said.
California’s recommendations aim to expand the options for high-level math, so that students could take courses in, say, data science or statistics without losing their edge on college applications. (The move requires buy-in from colleges; in recent years, the University of California system has de-emphasized the importance of calculus credits.)
For now, the revision process has reached a sort of interlude: The draft is being revised ahead of another round of public comment, and it will not be until late spring, or maybe summer, that the state’s education board will decide whether to give its stamp of approval.
So again, my opinion has less than nothing to do with this ‘woke’ label you keep trying to put on me. The debate in CA continues and I’ll be the first to agree that “math is math; 2+2=4” in the strictest most common sense interpretation.
But the situation is more complicated than that and clearly what’s *BEEN HAPPENING* in our high schools isn’t working as the lagging indicator of math/science testing clearly indicate. There’s always room for improvement and there should always be the opportunity for debate, which is exactly what’s happening. I highly doubt that China or Russia *force* all their students to learn calculus in high school, but clearly the interest in those countries is much higher than it is in the USSA. In fact, I think that high school is *optional* in China!
At the end of the day, what it probably boils down to is that the US has been consistently defunding their K-12 school systems and focusing too much on standardized testing with less student teacher interaction than other ‘developed’ countries. Social media and ‘screens’ don’t help – try to pry away the TikTok from your American adolescents and see where that gets you. I’m definitely not for inserting ‘woke’ messaging into hard sciences or math, but I don’t think that substituting calculus for statistics (and keeping cal as an option) amounts to this drastic awful scenario we’re being presented with.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 7 2021 21:50 utc | 36
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