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 believe that it is important to listen to the voices of the parents, because a failure to do so would miss part of the point of social justice. Part of social justice is to allow voices to be heard and understood. So responding to parents concerns is a great thing to do, but changing the way you teach is not a good thing to do. I believe that perhaps you can find a way to communicate with the parents in a way that gives them a voice and also allows them to understand the point of what you were wanting to do. You should speak directly to those parents that say that it will breed hate, and talk about how having conversations of this nature is exactly the way to eliminate hate. I believe that a teacher who truly wants to foster a sense of social justice in their classroom should be able to defend what they teach both to students, parents and principals - unfortunately in this case - you may need to talk to all three. The next thing to consider is how important it is for this particular issue to be broadcast - is it worth the trouble or should you concentrate on other issues that more energy should be spend on. If you are passionate about the issue, it should not be hard to find the energy to do the extra work necessary to share this information in your classroom. I believe that you should stand up for what you believe in, find a way to win over the parents and principal and perhaps even use this as a way to inspire your students. This is a special opportunity that your students may remember for years to come. Did my teacher stand up for what they thought was right, or did they bow to the whims of the powers that be?