Math conferences aren't typically hotbeds of controversy. But add a Harvard-trained civil rights philosopher, a notorious Weather Underground fugitive, and a clutch of young, idealistic math teachers, and you have a banner-waving radical math convention—not to mention a formula for backlash.
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Proponents point to American children's poor international standing in math proficiency and the persistence of the black-white achievement gap as evidence for the need to upend current teaching practices. "A lot of people hate math," says K. Wayne Yang, an assistant ethnic-studies professor at the University of California, San Diego, and founder of the progressive charter school East Oakland Community High, where Tupac numerology counts as a class assignment. That's the conspiracy theory that Tupac Shakur, who was murdered in 1996, faked his death and left clues in the number seven: Tupac was 25 when he died (2+5=7) seven months after the release of the album All Eyez on Me, an album that includes the song "Heartz of Men," in which Tupac says, "I died and came back" three minutes and 13 seconds into the track (3+1+3=7). "This is something that applies to their lives," Yang says of such projects that students can relate to, "and ideally, gets them to love math."
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Some educators, however, aren't down with the program. "I don't believe that the classroom in a public school should be used for any political indoctrination, whether by activists for social justice or activists for creationism or activists for a particular foreign policy," says Diane Ravitch, a research professor at New York University. "What if you discovered that test scores soar in classrooms where the teachings insist on teaching creationism or fascism? It would still be wrong. The classroom should not be a podium for the personal political beliefs of the teachers. Period."
And even among the like-minded, the notion of radicalizing algebra class is a tough sell. "I believe in social justice," says Wilfried Schmid, a Harvard math professor and member of the American Mathematical Society Committee on Education. "But if the teaching of mathematics constantly carries an undertone of political action, the mathematics suffers."
What?? There are numerous problematic aspects of this article. First of all, the only sign of "backlash" that has appeared in the media about the conference has been this article. Second, the reporter finds not one but two professors to deliver negative quotes about the concept of connecting mathematics and social justice, including giving opponents the final word in the story. Third, the reporter deliberately focusses on obscure or titillating examples (Deconstructing Barbie! Tupac numerology!) in order to tear down the entire enterprise. Fourth, the article includes no factual information or statistics about current mathematical achievement in urban cities or the U.S. as a whole which have been a catalyst for re-examination of many different aspects of public education, leading to many different innovative (and some controversial) interventions.
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