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!) As a teacher you have an obligation to respond to the parents and explain. I am however very surprised at the amount of reaction you had on this subject. Was it some part of the class discussion or the exercise itself that parents had issues with? Sometimes what was taught in the class is a little different then what is discussed at home. Think of the game of telephone we have probably all played at some point. Sometimes when there is an intermediary some part of the message is lost. It is probably a good sign that your students were engaged enough by your lesson to actually recall it. Before your return the phone calls decide what you are going to do and come up with a "script" so you can stay on message. I'm not suggesting you simply read a letter to a parent but having an idea of what you want to say before you pick up the phone may help you speak more confidently. If the lesson was well aligned to the mandated content and you can defend it to yourself, administration and parents then I would continue. If there is a flaw in the way you are delivering this instruction so that social justice or content messages are lost I would revise it. Most parents just want what is best for their kids. You may be off to a good start in defending this lesson if you make the case for student engagement. Most students don't discuss the particulars of a given lesson with their parents (not that parents don't ask). The fact that the students retained the lesson and discussed it with their parents may be a good point to start with.