What is the Purpose of Math Education? Maybe We Should Start With Our Own Purposes First…

For better or for worse, the general accepted purpose of math education has fallen into the need bucket. That somehow the details of math knowledge you gained(you never really gained because a year later you forget it) are going to help get some kind of leg up on society — from the day-to-day trials and tribulations of money management to perhaps greener pastures of math-related jobs.

And by greener, I mean literally in terms of wealth.

The irony, worthy of Shakespeare being resurrected and penning some comedy/tragedy play, is that most of the mathematics in most K to 12 curricula is generally benign in nature if we are going to be damn honest about value.

It’s mostly butter knives and safety scissors.

Practical applications? If that really was an interest of the architects of math education, kids would be given topics on game theory in the same copious amounts they are given worksheets on fractions.

So, this hard sell of the practicality of current standards of mathematics is pretty toothless when compared to the edgier things kids could be learning.

IF Game theory was in the curriculum, every teacher would have students play this wonderful game which builds the idea of trust in game theory.

The inclusion and absence of math topics in math education gives off messages to society as to what it values and what the endgame of math should be.

Currently, and please correct me if I am wrong, it seems like a vessel to enable the culture of class, commerce, and consumerism. And, even seeing things through a lens of equity, the outcome is still the same in terms of what the end result should be for a K to 12 math curriculum.

Mathematics is about cultural and economic status.

The problem — and I think it is a good one — is that I hope, that most math educators don’t see mathematics as some long obstacle course for certification purposes, leading to career aspirations.

Shouldn’t the purpose of math education be defined by our deepest and most human purposes? If that is money and job security, then this article has been a complete waste of your time. And mine.

We have quite few highly respected math educators trying to sketch out purposes that are in closer alignment to the philosophical roots of math, so we can’t say that there hasn’t been a road map provided.

Then there is, in my opinion, one of the greatest quotes on what mathematics means. You can’t Google it. It was a voice over on Season 1 DVD of the show NUMB3RS. David Krumholtz, who played Charlie Eppes in the six season show, flunked out of high school math. Yet, being immersed in mathematics for several years, an actor — of all people — uttered a comment that should send shivers down the spine of anyone who loves mathematics and teaching.

So who are we? Are we consumed with class and comfort, which are unintentionally etched into the practical goals of learning math — remembering again that the practical math seen in K to 12 is far from being the best practical math we can teach our students.

From my travels, experiences, and connections, most educators I have met are kind, generous, humble, and giving. These qualities should be what anchors a redesign of math education. They are also the qualities that will take us to the loftiest and most binding ideas of mathematics.

If we keep ignoring the bar that has been raised for all us, we will not only be making a strong indictment about the state of mathematics, we will also be making a strong statement about the state of our values.

The best of who we are is not currently reflected in the performance/testing culture that is the albatross around math education’s neck. Until we remove it, we will continue to be in the business of making mathematics a business, a competitive sport to mirror society’s…past.

No other subject or discipline is given such an industrious and prestigious treatment. What of the arts and humanities? Many believe these will be more valuable in the future. The irony is that mathematics has been seen as such by many — but that call has generally fallen on deaf ears.

The longer math education remains mired in cliched aspirations of career opportunities — all with good intentions — the further it will recede from the more holistic and humanistic interventions that are happening in other parts of education.

Our values and our purposes are automatically updated by experiences and events around us. Life always does that.

Math education. Stop hitting the “Snooze” button…