Mathematics and Education Have Been In A Silent Divorce For A While
Once in a while, I visit an old blog. I see if it needs updating — perhaps even deleting because the climate I wrote it in doesn’t exist anymore. I have updated this one. The divorce is no longer silent. Mathematics loathes education — especially math conferences — for not prioritizing mathematics and aiding in its final transmission to students.
Mathematics is boring. The only people who like school mathematics — or at least pretend to — are the ones capitalizing on trends, easy solutions, and Hallmark-like branding. My update is follows…
This “divorce” was never going to have a happy ending. Mathematics and education did not get back together.
Education was happy with the “loveless marriage”, which was full of performative shows of gratitude. It was never really interested in the true identity/history of mathematics, it just wanted its brand lustre — to hustle out at math conferences in teacher moves, bullet-point instructions, etc.
Mathematics? Pffft. She stopped having sex with education decades ago. They don’t kiss anymore. It’s all just performative actions to give the illusion of a relationship that is about as deep as a Valentine’s Day card bought at a drug store in the late afternoon on February 14.
Mathematics might have loved education at one point. But, there’s no romance anymore — literally. Alfred North Whitehead — mathematician, writer, philosopher, and educator — believed that “Romance” must be the way that students learn all subjects. Including mathematics. Its full fluency is rooted in having a romantic experience first.
First.
I think the more an educator babbles on about pedagogy — especially on a stage in front of other teachers — the less likely they are interested in actual mathematics. And, even less likely than that, they are doing mathematics — for themselves.
At the age of 62, I only do math problems that I can’t do. Zero interest in continuing on with a problem I know the solution. That’s a waste of time for me. I only have so much time left, I want to keep knowing more about this beautiful person called mathematics…
(The original blog starts below)
There is a current epidemic in mathematics education of where everything is pedagogy, pedagogy, and pedagogy.
Current pedagogy is four-letter word.
I went to Teacher’s College. I was indoctrinated with so much pedagogy that it was easily one of the longest years in my life.
While it may not be as simple is this, my teaching career would say otherwise — build student relationships first and give appropriately challenging math questions.
And, get out of their way. Sometimes explicit instruction will be critical, and sometimes the instruction will be more roundabout to flesh out deeper insights — which often happen coming from a non-traditional perspective.
I taught at an International IB School in Switzerland and I taught at one of the toughest urban schools in Toronto — where some kids were in gangs. And, I taught everything in between.
Relationships, relationships, and relationships. That’s what worked everywhere.
I have a theory that the educators who write these long position papers/research papers are doing so to replace prioritizing student relationships — maybe because they are incapable of doing so, and hand-holding, step-by-step methods is a surrogate for that.
Teachers in 2025 who are not prioritizing student relationships — almost the last bastion of humanity — have quickly rendered themselves obsolete.
There’s no mathematics in education anymore. It’s mostly fluff and “tasks”.
Building Thinking Classrooms has given the illusion that mathematics still exists when it doesn’t. It’s a dumpster fire of zero mathematics and edu-celebrity fawning.
Same shit(curriculum) different day(whiteboard).
But, for the proof of the divorce just look to math conferences.
I can bet you a million dollars that the pictures coming out of NCTM of around 5000 delegates will be less than 5% mathematics. The rest will be an ugly collision between inspirational hallmark calendars and in vogue pedagogy.
It’s actually a relief for mathematics that education and they are mow divorced. Education never wanted its romantic overtures. It just wanted mathematics to cook and clean — the practical shit.
Do you know why education can’t celebrate the wisdom and beauty of mathematics? Because that knowledge and respect died long time ago — when the silent divorce began to be the inevitable path for both mathematics and education.
Sure, there are outliers somewhere. Sure, there are some schools championing rich mathematics. Sure, there’s a blindspot here and there.
But, for the most — and globally speaking — mathematics education is the fake couple that goes out in public to pretend everything is alright. But, when they get back home to reality, they sleep in separate beds…
Mathematics is “single” — for now…
