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!) Personally, I would not remove the activity from the lesson. Your lesson provides true details of what your world expresses. I think students should be aware of these statistics and be able to make real world applications. I disagree upon how parents think this lesson will allow students to turn their backs on one another. This just goes to who that the parents don't know what they're talking about and therefore probably don't have a well-rounded perception of the true world we live in. Sending home a letter to justify your teaching strategy doesn't need to be address. I don't feel that teachers need to explain their reasoning behind their teaching. I only feel that this gives parents a since of power. They're not the ones who went to school to get a teaching degree.