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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 honestly agree with the parents and would choose to take this out of my class. I understand that this information is important, but I do think that Math should be the main concern. Whether or not the information will bring racial hatred into the class is debatable. From an educator's standpoint I would get rid of the material to prevent anymore uprising. |
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Rating
| The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) |
No
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| The suggested solution is relevant to the case |
No
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| The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement |
No
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| The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue |
No
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| The suggested solution is original |
No
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| Comments: This solution would not solve the problem/issue in this case. It is the educator's responsibility to create lessons meaningful by implementing real-world scenarios. Since the educator has facts, details, and statistics to support claims that females get paid less than males there should not be a dispute. The teacher needs to explain to parents in-depth so they can understand more about what is actually going on in the classroom and the pedagogical reasons why the teacher had the topic of gender inequality incorporated into the math lesson. |
| Rated On: June 11, 2015 3:42 am |
| Rated By: Tina Joiner |
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Rating
| The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) |
No
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| The suggested solution is relevant to the case |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue |
No
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| The suggested solution is original |
No
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| Comments: On the one hand I agree, it's math class and not social studies or ELA, stick to the standards. But on the other hand, is this type of math lessons getting your students more engaged, and is it improving your students math scores? If so, then I don't think the solution is so black and white. Math, with many at-risk populations, is a struggle and if a teacher can find something that can get their students more connected with math great, build data that supports these strategies and then keep implamenting them otherwise find another way or stick to the status quo. |
| Rated On: June 14, 2015 6:36 pm |
| Rated By: Farhat Ahmad |
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Rating
| The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is relevant to the case |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is original |
Yes
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| Comments: Great post! |
| Rated On: July 10, 2015 2:32 am |
| Rated By: RaMevy |
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Rating
| The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is relevant to the case |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement |
No
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| The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue |
No
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| The suggested solution is original |
No
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| Comments: I slightly agree with your point. Although, I believe that being able to tie in real world concepts to show the students how the real world demographics has to deal with math. This would help them to realize that what they are learning now will eventually help them in the future. |
| Rated On: October 15, 2017 3:56 pm |
| Rated By: Xupuva |
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Rating
| The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) |
No
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| The suggested solution is relevant to the case |
No
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| The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement |
No
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| The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue |
No
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| The suggested solution is original |
No
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| Comments: I disagree. I think that students should not only be learning about math but also how to apply the math that they are learning to real world issues and topics. Math does not exist obsoletely, our students will not just be completing random equations with no purpose as the move into their adult lives. It is important to set them up to think critically, in all subjects. I think it would be important to remind parents of this. The purpose of applying real world thinking concepts to core academic subjects, like math, is to push students to form their own opinions and think critically about the information presented to them. They get to practice applying their concepts in a way that would be similar to how they would in a job. Perhaps in a email sent to parents, maybe a range of examples on how these critical thinking questions could be posed would better demonstrate to parents the reasoning behind including this type of content. |
| Rated On: April 2, 2023 4:40 pm |
| Rated By: uPanaS |
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