Math In Society

This is a reflection on the following article:

MES8 | 19

From Mathematics Education and Society

to Mathematics Education and a

Sustainable Civilization:

A Threat, an Appeal, and a Proposal

Ubiratan D’Ambrosio

This article is about the dangers of society as we know it coming to an end and the need to approach curriculum in a new way so that students will be able to come up with solutions to the world's problems.

It starts out by talking about social justice issues. I have seen math used in both negative and positive ways in discussions about social justice. Statistics are manipulated to make certain groups look better or worse. Numbers are used to argue over whether there is a wage gap between men and women. Logic is used in arguments over how to view gender. Math can be used to determine demographics of geographical areas and whether tests have cultural bias. However, the article does not dwell on these issues, instead shifting focus to scarier issues of society potentially breaking down in the near future.

One of the dangers is running out of resources. Indeed, I pointed out in class once how we have a finite amount of water in the world and the population is growing. In theory, water is being constantly recycled and should never run out. However, we need a certain amount of water to sustain all living things at any given moment and so, if too many people are using that finite supply of water, there may not be enough for everybody. We also have to avoid allowing all water to be present in the oceans, in liquid form, at the same time because it could cause massive flooding. Math could be needed to keep track of Earth's water supply. Another danger is potential outbreaks of diseases like the plague. Mathematicians may be the only people who can calculate, with our current population density, how fast such a thing would spread and, perhaps, how to stop it.

One part of the article that I found striking was that when we teach math, students can later grow up to use it for evil things like creating deadly weapons and selfish business practices. Math is a tool that can be used for both good and evil, which is why with education should come ethical training.

I have a degree in religious studies. So I am a bit biased in my belief that it needs to stay in school. I feel that teachers and other school officials are not wanting to teach religion anymore because religion, especially Christianity, is getting a negative reputation. I would never want school to go back to forcing a particular set of values on students, but I do want students to learn ways to make ethical judgements. I think ethics are an important component in everything.

Math is the subject that least lends itself to ethical thinking. Ethics is an innate part of most humanities and social sciences. Religious studies and social studies easily incorporate ethics in learning social issues. Language arts has opportunities to teach it as part of reading and writing, it can teach students how to incorporate many value systems. Health is incorporating more about mental health and beliefs about what we should value in life. Physical education teaches how to co-operate in a team, Music and art involve spiritual learning. Science involves learning how to protect the environment. Math is seen as just being about numbers and data, little room for any social learning.

Until I read this article, I didn't think of ethics and social justice as being important in math. Now I realize that math is a powerful, potentially dangerous but also potentially needed, tool that students should learn to be socially responsible with. It strengthens my feeling that ethical components to the curriculum are just as necessary as literacy, reasoning, and wellness.

The part of the article that confuses me is the explanation of "matheracy". Perhaps my definition of math is a little narrow, I do not understand how it ties into understanding the cosmos and philosophy. On this site I have a page where I have organized strands of math with statistics at the top. I feel "matheracy" may be above that, it is said to involve reading data and applying it to wider concepts. I do have some ideas of using math to understand human behaviour, as I mentioned in my spacewalk post when wondering what patterns affect social behaviour and how herds can sometimes behave like a single organism.

This article was confusing for me at times but delivers a very important message about math and how it can be used in society.