Ethnomathematics
By DIANE RAVITCH
June 20, 2005; Page A14
It seems our math
educators no longer believe in the beauty and power of the principles of
mathematics. They are continually in search of a fix that will make it easy,
relevant, fun, and even politically relevant. In the early 1990s, the National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics issued standards that disparaged basic
skills like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, since all of
these could be easily performed on a calculator. The council preferred real
life problem solving, using everyday situations. Attempts to solve problems
without basic skills caused some critics, especially professional
mathematicians, to deride the "new, new math" as "rainforest
algebra."
In a comparison of a
1973 algebra textbook and a 1998 "contemporary mathematics" textbook,
Williamson Evers and Paul Clopton found a dramatic change in topics. In the
1973 book, for example, the index for the letter "F" included
"factors, factoring, fallacies, finite decimal, finite set, formulas,
fractions, and functions." In the 1998 book, the index listed
"families (in poverty data), fast food nutrition data, fat in fast food,
feasibility study, feeding tours, ferris wheel, fish, fishing, flags, flight,
floor plan, flower beds, food, football, Ford Mustang, franchises, and
fund-raising carnival."
Those were the days of
innocent dumbing-down. Now mathematics is being nudged into a specifically
political direction by educators who call themselves "critical
theorists." They advocate using mathematics as a tool to advance social
justice. Social justice math relies on political and cultural relevance to
guide math instruction. One of its precepts is "ethnomathematics,"
that is, the belief that different cultures have evolved different ways of
using mathematics, and that students will learn best if taught in the ways that
relate to their ancestral culture. From this perspective, traditional
mathematics -- the mathematics taught in universities around the world -- is
the property of Western Civilization and is inexorably linked with the values
of the oppressors and conquerors. The culturally attuned teacher will learn
about the counting system of the ancient Mayans, ancient Africans, Papua New
Guineans, and other "non-mainstream" cultures.
Partisans of social
justice mathematics advocate an explicitly political agenda in the classroom. A
new textbook, "Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the
Numbers," shows how problem solving, ethnomathematics and political action
can be merged. Among its topics are: "Sweatshop Accounting," with
units on poverty, globalization, and the unequal distribution of wealth.
Another topic, drawn directly from ethnomathematics, is "Chicanos Have
Math in Their Blood." Others include "The Transnational Capital
Auction," "Multicultural Math," and "Home Buying While
Brown or Black." Units of study include racial profiling, the war in Iraq,
corporate control of the media, and environmental racism. The theory behind the
book is that "teaching math in a neutral manner is not possible."
Teachers are supposed to vary the teaching of mathematics in relation to their
students' race, gender, ethnicity, and community.
This fusion of
political correctness and relevance may be the next big thing to rock
mathematics education, appealing as it does to political activists and to
ethnic chauvinists.
Ms. Ravitch is a
historian of education at New York University, a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution, and a member of the Koret Task Force at the Hoover Institution.
WSJ
June 20, 2005