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!) I am not sure how graphing real-life data can cause hatred among students and be a waste of time. As a 8th grade math teacher, I have found many students have nor or little concept of what the real world is like. They truly think "free lunch" is free and that "life is fair". In order for students to be prepared for the real world, they must face and understand the many injustices of life. It is also possible the students did not provide the parents with all the information presented in the lesson. As educators, we know students often misinterpret what is said by adults. For future reference, it may be best to inform parents of any instructional topics that may be out of the "norm" in the classroom. Applying math to real life is proven to be most effective when used in math instruction. When students see the relevance, the math makes more "sense" to the students. It is ashamed that so many parents had issues with your choice for the assignment. However, it is also a fact that you cannot please everyone all of the time. With the support of your administrator, I feel the displeasure of those parents is just a "hiccup" in the school year. To minimize the chance of this happening again, be sure to inform parents of your intentions prior to the lesson.