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!) Unfortunately in today's society, there is a fine line you can walk when discussing social issues without facing some kind of negative feedback. At the 5th grade level, this may be a little over the top. I think it is very important to incorporate real life information and scenarios in class; however, I think your example is more appropriate for an older group of students. As a teacher, sometimes there are battles that we should not fight, and I think this is one of those. As you said, your explanation will not stop the complaints. I would do away with the content altogether and try to come up with something more age appropriate. Instead of gender and ethnic groups, you could maybe focus on the income levels of different age groups. However, one good thing came out of this. It is evident that your principals have your back because they suggest you write explanation letters, rather than telling you to stop. This is valuable to know in the future.