Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Math and Social Justice! No No! Recently, I read a report in a national magazine on income levels of different groups of people in the US. The report especially featured income differences between males, females and different ethnic groups. Some of the statistics were very disturbing. For example, women holding the same job as men with same number of years in the job made considerably less money in most of the states. Differences between ethnic groups were even more disturbing. I decided to use these data in my math class with my 5th graders in a lesson on graphing. The purpose was for the students to be able to interpret graphs and create graphs using the information provided. Students enjoyed the lesson and learned some social justice lessons. Apparently a lot of my students talked to their parents about what they had learned in class when they went home. I received notes from about 10 parents the next day simply indicating that what I taught in my math class would lead to hatred among my students and that I should not be wasting their children's valuable time. Rather, they suggested, I should teach math with no controversial materials. I completely disagree with them and I plan to use similar materials in my other courses as well. However, my principals asked me to send an explanation to those parents. I know my explanation will not stop the complaints. How should I go about this potentially long battle? Or should I take the short cut simply remove such content from my lessons? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) Pay inequality is something that will affect everyone, and it has obviously spurned an interest in your students, if they went home and shared what they learned with their parents. I agree with your principal that an explanation should be sent home. This explanation should include the need for real world connections, as well as preparing students to compete in a globalized economy. There is a very good chance that, once the parents hear your side of the story (as opposed to sound bites they, no doubt, heard from their children), they will understand the purpose of the assignment. If they continue to fight the materials after that, then it might be necessary to remove them just to avoid a bigger confrontation. However, I do feel that would be terribly unfortunate, so I would not give up on those materials without ensuring I had done everything in my power to keep them and help others see their importance.