It is almost impossible to graduate at Cornell without having engaged in some interaction with the Mathematics department. Whether it be taking a distribution requirement in Arts & Sciences or a core class as part of the College of Engineering, almost every student has interacted in some way with it. Since it is so influential, it should be held to strict scrutiny, as it plays a key part in every undergraduate’s initiation into society. And while the department does a lot well, such as with the quantitative and problem-solving skills conferred to students, which are crucial, it is the way in which the historical and cultural context of these discoveries is presented that is needing reform.
Students may say that they don’t wish to learn such things in their math courses; Cornell has Departments of Comparative Literature, Classics and Government for a reason after all. But this argument fails to appreciate the depth of the subject at hand. For centuries, mathematics has been the principal driver in all technological and scientific advances. Thus, gaining proficiency is not only about knowing how to solve an equation or plot a graph, but understanding the logical innovations that have allowed humanity to build up to all manner of progress. Essentially, it is the University’s most discrete lesson in human history.
This is where the principal problem lies. Those having taken a calculus course at Cornell will have heard any number of names important in mathematical spheres of influence: Newton, Euler, Riemann, and Taylor. There is no contesting the contributions these people have made to our modern scientific understanding of the world, but the homogeneity in their backgrounds and identities paints an illegitimate picture of how mathematics has been constructed throughout history. Even if the sudden sparks of innovation that brought such study to the forefront of scientific progress were spawned by the major European thinkers of the time, the contributions of many other cultures that created the conditions ripe for such breakthroughs lay hidden. In a sense, mathematics seems to be a totally European conception, where other cultures copied and followed. This is categorically untrue…