I completely agree: George Washington Carver seems to have been a smart and interesting guy but doesn’t belong on any list of the world’s greatest scientists, and if some school textbook chooses him as one of a small number of scientists to profile then I bet it is indeed largely because he was black.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It would be bad if they claimed “here are three scientists of comparable greatness” (or “comparable prominence” or “comparable brainpower”) and then listed Einstein, Curie, and Carver. I haven’t seen those textbooks, but I’m guessing they didn’t. If they said “here are three scientists” (subtext: ”… whom you might want to use as role models if you’re that way inclined”) I don’t see a problem with that. (Eugine might, if he believes that black people’s statistical inferiority is so dramatic that as a group they should be systematically discouraged from getting into science.)
I haven’t seen those textbooks, but I’m guessing they didn’t. If they said “here are three scientists” (subtext: ”… whom you might want to use as role models if you’re that way inclined”) I don’t see a problem with that.
Perhaps, but I think this says more about subcultures in the U.S. than anything else. Do you think branco or moreno kids in Brazil would have any problem with adopting Pelé as a role model due to his significant African descent?
I don’t know enough about Brazilian society to have much idea about your final question. I expect your first sentence is right—it’s not hard to imagine variant societies in which being black is no obstacle to taking Einstein or Curie as a role model—but if that’s meant to make something I’ve said wrong, I’m not seeing why.
I completely agree: George Washington Carver seems to have been a smart and interesting guy but doesn’t belong on any list of the world’s greatest scientists, and if some school textbook chooses him as one of a small number of scientists to profile then I bet it is indeed largely because he was black.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It would be bad if they claimed “here are three scientists of comparable greatness” (or “comparable prominence” or “comparable brainpower”) and then listed Einstein, Curie, and Carver. I haven’t seen those textbooks, but I’m guessing they didn’t. If they said “here are three scientists” (subtext: ”… whom you might want to use as role models if you’re that way inclined”) I don’t see a problem with that. (Eugine might, if he believes that black people’s statistical inferiority is so dramatic that as a group they should be systematically discouraged from getting into science.)
Perhaps, but I think this says more about subcultures in the U.S. than anything else. Do you think branco or moreno kids in Brazil would have any problem with adopting Pelé as a role model due to his significant African descent?
I don’t know enough about Brazilian society to have much idea about your final question. I expect your first sentence is right—it’s not hard to imagine variant societies in which being black is no obstacle to taking Einstein or Curie as a role model—but if that’s meant to make something I’ve said wrong, I’m not seeing why.