I have found that in a particular sample over 90% of people did not wish our children to learn Arabic numerals at school...The challenge we all face is to be aware of our prejudices and blind spots. We are often unaware of how the perceptions of threat grow and influences us all. Its been a constant perception that we are all threatened by an Islamic take over of the UK. The origins of this can be traced back to the popular press and to certain right wing politicians. We all are unaware of how such things effect us all. I remember nearly 50 years ago as a student at Dynevor School that there we were all straight males only interested in the opposite sex. I discovered some twenty years ago that there were many gay people there who dare not come out I suspect that in several decades people will look back and laugh and be ashamed of the prejudices that we have today. I often read of white people saying they see no evidence of increasing racial prejudice and discrimination. It's taken me all my life to realise that as a white heterosexual middle class male I would not notice black, gay working class discrimination and prejudice. How could I unless I reflected upon it? We see what we want to see and we deny what we cannot stomach. Yet we see such white fragility when the rights of others are championed. I saw a comment the other day that stated that nothing is as sensitive as a white male on the internet.
When I woke this morning an idea came to mind to test my hypothesis. I set up a poll on three Facebook groups and asked the following question. Do you support the compulsory teaching of Arabic numerals in local schools. I started the poll this morning around six and as I head home i have found that 240 people oppose the teaching of the number system we have been using for the last 600 years. I celebrate the 40 who support it. The key issue that is indicative of the prejudice was the word "Arabic" rather than "numeral" One bloke asked me if I was supporter of Isis and another told me that I should get a life and get laid. Another felt that the question was useless and told me it was like teaching Russian. I remembered that in the year 800 Islamic traders brought a chiming water clock to the Carolingian court of Charlegmagne . His advisors said it was Islamic witchcraft and should be destroyed. I would like to point out that without the translators of Bagdad we would have no Aristotle and consequently no syllogisms that form the basis of modern computing. No Euclid as the basis of mathematics and no medicine from Galen. Arabic words such alphabet, allgorythm and Algebra all come from these Arabic numerals. The concept of Zero also comes from here . The problem is that words like Islam and Arabic bring to mind the prejudices of Farage and the Sun and Daily Mail. Our media controls us and our fears confront us. We have an education system that closes out minds and makes us docile. We need to be informed and to think critically . Education is not merely about getting a job it's about challenging our limits and our own bigotry. It applies to all of us I will be learning till the day I die. There are many others who are doing the samea. Yet we are outnumbered by a factor of 8 to 1 of those who do not feel the same This is tragic and clearly shows that so many are poorly educated and controlled by their fears. The system is sick and we must do something about it. We must learn and study all lives if not we face fear prejudice and fascism. I have proved it today in a light hearted way yet it is sad and despairing in its implications. Our education has made us love the chains that bind us. It's time to burst the chains and wake up. The matrix surrounds and controls us and there are so few who have woken up...
What is the alternative?
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