[Maths-Education] Money Counts

[truranjk@camtech.net.au]

No course which we teach is ever value neutral. There is a reasonable case to
be made that some of what we teach in mathematics supports values which are
not in the best interests of our society. But this is only a reasonable case,
not a divine message set in tablets of stone.

It is therefore important that in attempting to corect what we may see as in
imbalance/inappropriateness in values we do not do  those very things which
we are seeking to oppose.

One of the characteristics of librarians which has always impresssed me is their
commitment to assisting readers to finding out information without asking any
questions about the use to which the information will be put. I would argue
that mathematics teachers have a similar calling: to provide students with the
power of being able to think mathematically and to show them what tools are
available within the discipline.

These are dangerous words to write. I know and accept at least some of the arguments
for the importance on context, relevance, and the need for social critiquing,
though no doubt by now some of my readers will have decided otherwise. But I
would still put before Peter Gates and his collaborators what I see as the primary
need of ensuring that students learn good mathematics in a way which will enable
them to use this mathematics as seems best to them. I have no doubt that some
of them will use it in ways to which many (probably most) of us are very much
opposed. But this will happen regardless of how much we try to blend social
correctness with mathematics teaching.

Personally, I put my long-term confidence in openness,and my fear is that Peter
Gates' proposal is a styep in the opposite direction. I should be delighted
to find out that this is not so.

John Truran
Adelaide, South Australia