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2020-10-03 Science & Technology
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Duke Professor: Identity Politics Is A Threat To Science
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h/t Hot Air
A psychology professor at Duke University has written a piece arguing that identity politics is a threat to science. "John Staddon is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and a professor of biology and neurobiology" his bio reads. Staddon’s focus is a petition which is currently circulating which claims there isn’t enough diversity in STEM fields because of systemic racism.
The first sentence of the petition...blurs the distinction between systemic racism and racial disparities, as well as raising the emotional temperature with distracting and irrelevant allusions to the BLM protests and the COVID-19 pandemic:
The nexus of Black Lives Matter protests and a pandemic that disproportionately kills Black and Brown people highlights the need to end systemic racism, including in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), where diversity has not meaningfully changed for decades.
Systemic racism is the problem, and the petition knows the cause:
Everyone in academia must acknowledge the role that universities—faculty, staff, and students—play in perpetuating structural racism by subjecting students of color to unwelcoming academic cultures.
That passage is alarming for two reasons: Apparently, we "must acknowledge;" we must admit our collective sin. This is the language not of science, but of the Middle Ages. And just what is meant by "unwelcoming academic cultures?" Are science faculties mean to students of color? Not in my experience. Or are some subjects too difficult for unprepared students, many of whom are "of color?"...
The petition further urges STEM faculty to "abandon the perception of ’fixed’ student ability." That sounds nice but assumes an equality that does not exist. Some students are simply smarter than others, and the range is especially great in mathematical ability. An educational system that ignores these vast individual differences will soon fall into mediocrity...
The petitioners also want to change the way STEM faculty are evaluated: "[Our proposal] will require making tenure dependent not only on excellence in research, teaching, and service, but also meaningful contributions to promote equity and inclusion".
Staddon concludes that, if implemented, these changes would reduce the emphasis on science and increase the emphasis on a kind of promotion based on unrelated social merit. The support for this idea offered in the petition is a study titled The Diversity—Innovation Paradox in Science. The gist of the study is that diversity yields more innovation in science which sounds like it might be a good thing. But Staddon argues the claims of the study aren’t very credible because the design of the way the study defines innovation. 
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Posted by g(r)omgoru 2020-10-03 05:39||
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Posted by NN2N1 2020-10-03 07:23||
2020-10-03 07:23||
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Posted by Chris 2020-10-03 08:33||
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Posted by JohnQC 2020-10-03 08:44||
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Posted by Glenmore 2020-10-03 11:03||
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Posted by magpie 2020-10-03 12:06||
2020-10-03 12:06||
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