I describe here my philosophy of mathematics education, specifically my view on mathematics and equity.
Rationale for learning mathematics includes developing reasoning skills and preparation for future careers, but none is as appealing as the playfulness of mathematics, a side rarely seen in schools. Consider a mental dialogue, “I take a graph of a line and just play with it. Well, what if I add a constant? The graph moves vertically upwards. What if I subtract a constant? Hm, how can I make this graph move horizontally? I wonder why that works?” So many students believe mathematics translates into memorizing formulas with bizarre rules and arbitrary exceptions. This is the exact opposite of reasoning!
I claim that treating students equitably is distinct than treating students equally. If I have two children at the park and one of them falls and his knee start starts to bleed, I take my bandage and I go to the bleeding child. After he is bandaged, he is free to play again (perhaps a little more timidly than before). It makes absolutely no sense for me to bandage both children, and it would make no sense for the child who did not fall to complain that he too is not receiving a bandage. The idea of treating students equitably is to adjust our instruction so that all students have a chance to succeed equally.
I refute the myths that mathematics is neutral or culture-less and that teaching mathematics is neutral and culture-less. We claim advanced algebra is more important than probability because it will lead us to the coveted calculus. We claim that when we ask for the best route from A to B, we really mean the most efficient way. We claim that the best investment is the one with the highest profit. Mathematics is value-laden. In my classroom, I want my students to develop critical perspectives on their mathematics education. They should realize there is a history of how certain mathematics is developed, that indeed there exist non-white mathematicians (such as Arabian, Chinese, and Egyptian scholars). They should have opportunities to have reflections of their own culture in the classroom.
As part of critiquing mathematics education, I often consider race and racism. While we become wrapped up in language like supporting “all students” and serving “diverse needs,” we somehow dodge finding specific ways to support particular groups. On the one hand, mathematics is a gateway into higher paying careers. On the other hand, many Latino and black students are testing below the average. Though talking about race is, at best, uncomfortable, not talking about race is detrimental to our students’ growth.