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A good deal of math& #39;s power lies in the problems to which it is applied.
What do we tell students about what math is good for when we select problems?
A journal article got me thinking about that this week. (Cover article in NCTM& #39;s MTLT, you can look it up, there& #39;s a paywall, you probably know someone who can find you a pdf)
A problem about gender and marriage was critiqued from a framework of discomfort. White people& #39;s discomfort. Which is really a trash framework.
A better framework is harm. There& #39;s a lot of harm in teaching a problem about a sultan& #39;s harem. Right now, I& #39;m thinking about the harm to mathematics.
This kind of thing tells kids that math doesn& #39;t care about humanity, only about the underlying logical structure. And lots of super creative people who care deeply about their own and others& #39; humanity get that message and come to understand that mathematics is not for them.
@DrEugeniaCheng writes about this eloquently and from a first person point of view in her new book "x+y", which you should 100% buy and read.
Yesterday& #39;s news put these concerns in a spotlight for me.
A thing I have noticed in my adventures in #vehiclechat is that a concern for precise definition, categorization, and the ensuing logic is a thing that math shares with the law.
Yesterday we heard a legal argument that obscured humanity and proceeded by a nearly mathematical logic. Put together the axioms of a drug money raid, stand your ground laws, and absolute authority, and this is what you get.
I don& #39;t have a hopeful note to end on, friends. I can only restate that a good deal of math& #39;s power lies in the problems to which it is applied.
Let& #39;s apply it to problems that matter, and that invite people in. Let& #39;s question whether math should apply at all from time to time. Let& #39;s question premises. Let& #39;s do better.
Let& #39;s get uncomfortable.
Let& #39;s get uncomfortable.
The foregoing represents where I am on my learning journey, by the way. I& #39;ve learned from and with many. Notable in this thread are learnings from @RG1gal @Maestra_Rocha @LBmathemagician @DingleTeach and probably a bunch of others. I& #39;m grateful to all.
(It seems also important to note that my citing these people does not imply their endorsement of my interpretations.)
