[Maths-Education] Money counts..or money talks?

[Jeremy Hodgen]

Anyone who chooses to work with financial institutions or government
organisations takes on some important limitations. On the other hand, the
possibilities for getting wide distribution of socialist, revolutionary or
even liberal texts are limited, and as we know teachers attempting to
unsettle the dominant discourse of the maths classroom usually have to
resort to their own, or informal, networked materials.

We would entirely support Peter's proposal for the further development of
such materials, and remind readers of this list that it is not the case, as
David Pugalee puts it, that 'mathematics, in general, has not raised the
types of social issues that could be a 'wealth' of conscious raising
activities'. Aside from anything else, our knowledge of 'disadvantage,
poverty, social injustice, usury, etc. etc.', as Peter put it, is often
expressed in terms of mathematical discourses. Indeed, 'mathematics, in
general' is unclear ... Maths education? All classes, all teachers, all age
groups, all countries, all languages?

A  key difficulty for teachers at least in the UK trying to centre
curricula and pedagogy on issues of social justice is the dominance of
official discourses. These limit the possibilities for people attempting to
work inside those dominant discourses, including those writing maths books
for school use.

Two of us were involved in producing one of the books Peter refers to -
"Money Counts" from BEAM and the Financial Services Agency. The
introduction to this book certainly refers to issues of poverty and social
injustice - albeit couched in the language of social inclusion. Activities
include the Cost of Living  which is set in the context of Jaqueline
Wilson's Bed and Breakfast Star - about a homeless family living in hostel
accomodation; Internet Books which raises issues about credit cards and
young people's debt; Gifts, a comparison of different amounts of money
(including the National Health Service budget); Phone a Friend which
explores issues around advertising and confusion marketing; or What will
you buy / Special Offers which explore the different meanings of value (not
just monetary).

All these activities were a result of compromises and were certainly toned
down. For example, one activity that was edited out was:

Discuss who you might lend money to and for what benefit to yourself
=A310 with a return of =A315 from an arms manufacturer
=A310 with return of =A311 from a clockwork radio maker
=A310 with no return from a medical emergency appeal

We think that books like this need to be set against the plethora of
materials that are produced by banks - little more than propoganda and free
advertising targetted at getting young people to consume their products.
It's all very well to produce radical curriculum materials but these are
likely to be used by the teachers who would do this anyway.

=46inally, it is important to recognise that these activities are aimed at 5
to 11 year olds. Whilst young children's thinking can be very
sophisticated, their experience of financial, political and social issues
is necessarily limited.

Tamara Bibby ( tamara.bibby@kcl.ac.uk )
Jeremy Hodgen ( jeremy.hodgen@kcl.ac.uk )
Alison Tomlin ( alison.tomlin@kcl.ac.uk )

Jeremy Hodgen

e-mail: jeremy.hodgen@kcl.ac.uk