“Now Jack,” asks the interviewer, “inrnwhat way would a woman or a minorityrnlearn [math] differently than I learnedrnit?”rnJack: “All of the research that has beenrndone with gender differences or ethnicrndifferences has been—males, for example,rnlearn better deductively in a competitivernenvironment. . . . [W]omen have arntendency to learn better in a collaborativerneffort when they are doing inductivernreasoning.”rnInterviewer: “What does that mean,rninductive reasoning?”rnJack: “Well, they are able to generalizernfrom a number of different kinds of—rnI can’t think of the word I want, but, fromrna number of specific instances they canrnmake a generalization.”rnMr. Price never explained how it isrnpossible to teach math to people whorncannot learn mathematically, nor why arntraditional pedagogy that teaches mathrnmathematically to those capable ofrnlearning math should be scrapped in favorrnof one that insults and handicaps thernbest potential learners. And, of course,rnhe never addressed the most bizarre aspectrnof the whole situation: why a highsocioeconomic-rnstatus Anglo male likernhimself should be pimping for a sorry lotrnof feel-good nonsense like Whole Mathrnwhose entire premise is that the Anglornmale’s day is done, and good riddance.rnThey say that as California goes, sorngoes the nation. If true. MathematicallyrnCorrect’s victory is a major blow againstrnthe conversion of mathematics intorn”math appreciation” in our nation’srnschools.rnMarian Kester Coombs writes fromrnCrofton, Maryland.rnFOREIGN AFFAIRSrnOur Little War inrnKosovornhy Doug BandowrnAfter ethnic Albanian guerrillas initiallyrnrejected the peace settlementrnfashioned by U.S. Secretary of StaternMadeleine Albright, a friend of hers toldrnNewsweek that “She’s angry at ever)’-rnone—the Serbs, the Albanians and NATO.”rnAnother Clinton administration officialrnraged: “Here is the greatest nationrnon earth pleading with some nothingballsrnto do something entirely in theirrnown interest—which is to say yes to anrninterim agreement—and they defy’ us.”rnWith such hubris infecting the Clintonrnadministration, it should come as nornsurprise that it has so badly bungled policyrnconcerning the Serbian province ofrnKosovo. The administration set its sightsrnon going to war with Yugoslavia and occupyingrnthe province. This is misguidedrnin the extreme.rnThe administration is attempting tornimpose an artificial settlement with littlernchance of genuine acceptance by eitherrnside. It is micromanaging a guerrillarnconflict, likely spreading nationalistic violencernthroughout the region. It is involvingrnAmerica in an undeclared warrnagainst a nation which has not threatenedrnthe United States or any Americanrnally. It is encouraging permanent Europeanrndependence on America to defendrnEuropean interests with little relevancernto America. Most importantly, it putsrnAmerican troops at risk without any serious,rnlet alone vital, American interest atrnstake.rnThe situation in Kosovo is tragic, but itrnis not unique. Washington unreservedlyrnsupports Britain, Spain, and Turkey, forrninstance, in dealing with violent separatists,rnhas placed no pressure on Macedoniarnto offer autonomy to its ethnic Albanians,rnand ignores mass violence mostrnevePfWhere else around the globe, fromrnBurundi to Rwanda to Tajikistan. Atrnleast twice as many people died in Januaryrnin Sierra Leone as in Kosovo lastrnyear, and as many people died in onernthree-day battle between Tamil guerrillasrnand the Sri Lankan government lastrnfall as in Kosovo in all of 1998.rnWhile Slobodan Milosevic is a demagogicrnthug, the one constant of guerrillarninsurgencies and civil wars is their brutalit}’rn—by both sides. If the Serbian governmentrnhas caused civilian casualties inrnKosovo, its conduct does not exist in arnvacuum. Last June, an American diplomatrnin Belgrade told me: “If you’re arnSerb, hell yes the KLA is a terrorist organization.”rnEven ethnic Albanians admitrnthat the Kosovo Liberation Army has targetedrnSerb policemen and other governmentrnemployees, as well as Albanianrn”collaborators” and Serbs viewed asrnabusing Albanians. Each cycle of violencernhas spawned another.rnIn practice, Washington seems preparedrnto use military force under threernconditions: Those being killed are whiternEuropeans; the perceived aggressor isrnnot a U.S. ally; there is extensive mediarncoverage of the conflict.rnThis makes a mockery of the humanitarianrnpretensions of President Clintonrnand other Western leaders. If our concernsrnare humanitarian, why is the administrationrnignoring the brutal civil warrnin Turkey, where some 37,000 have diedrnover the last decade as the Kurds seek thernright of self-determination? The Turkishrngovernment has destroyed Kurdish villagesrnand ruthlessly restricts the civil libertiesrnand political freedoms of Kurdishrnsympathizers. Yet the administration hasrnvoiced no outrage, proposed no bombing,rndemanded no occupation. To therncontrary, Washington supplies the weaponsrnAnkara uses to repress Kurdish separatistsrnand apparentiy helped Turkeyrncapture rebel head Abdullah Ocalan.rnThere is much to criticize about Ocalan’srnPKK, of course, but one couldrnmake similar judgments regarding thernKLA.rnThe administration appears to be drivenrnby what former British diplomatrnJonathan Clarke has termed the “instinctrnfor the capillary.” Developments in Chinarnand Russia will have a significant impactrnon shaping the future world order.rnThe United States remains at risk of beingrnsucked into a war on the Koreanrnpeninsula. American economic prosperit}’rncould fade if Japan’s economy collapsed.rnAll of these issues deserve thernadministration’s focused attention. ArnBalkan civil war does not.rnThe experience in Bosnia, a nationrnwhich exists only in the imagination ofrnWestern officials, should serve as a caution.rnBosnia “animates our policy towardsrnKosovo,” Nicholas Burns, U.S.rnambassador to Greece, told me during arnrecent trip to Athens. Burns said that thernClinton administration “learned a veryrnbitter lesson in the Bosnian war, that ifrndiplomacy is not often coupled by thernthreat of force or the willingness to usernforce in an unstable environment likernthis, diplomacy is often ineffective.”rnThough the United States has spentrn$12 billion and occupied Bosnia forrnmore than three years, the Dayton Accordrnis a bust. As the Cato Institute’srnGary Dempsey puts it, “Reintegration isrngrinding to a halt.” Nationalists dominaternpolitics, and refugees are not returningrnhome; there is little homegrown eco-rnJUNE 1999/47rnrnrn