The Politics of Mathematics: Just and Knowing Societies

Sandra Baldwin,Vicki Squires

doi:10.22158/wjer.v6n1p22

Abstract

Educational leaders and researchers recognize that mathematics can be an effective tool in enabling substantial advances in many fields of science and technology. However, the role that mathematics can play in shaping and creating socio-political views of societies is not as well understood. Within the mathematics’ learning community there is little discussion connecting the unique role that mathematics can play in conceptualizing a democratic society even within the democratic societies where that learning happens. Building capacity for learning in context is a critical piece of any comprehensive program but it is sometimes difficult for leaders to agree on what that context should and does look like. There are multitudes of influences at play when educational systems create and enact curricula but in order to push through the stalemate that can exist with different ideologies, it is essential to understand that mathematics can be a conduit to improvements in political social justice as well as a gateway to developments in science and technology. Mathematics has the potential to be a tool to create, as well as an instrument of influence; the key is for leaders to understand how to do both.

Highlights

In the 1960s educational reformist and social activist, Paulo Freire had an idea
Within the mathematics’ learning community there is little discussion connecting the unique role that mathematics can play in conceptualizing a democratic society even within the democratic societies where that learning happens
There are multitudes of influences at play when educational systems create and enact curricula but in order to push through the stalemate that can exist with different ideologies, it is essential to understand that mathematics can be a conduit to improvements in political social justice as well as a gateway to developments in science and technology

Summary

Introduction

In the 1960s educational reformist and social activist, Paulo Freire had an idea. Freire believed in a “utopian society of equals” The work of Freire and other social reformists unleashed a philosophical discourse that began within the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/wjer. Freire’s concept of “popular education” became an impetus for change, a way for social justice to become an active and influential part of the educational system and beyond. Eagan (2010) proposed that political interventionists, historical legacies and personal ideologies would all play a role in the acceptance of or the resistance to the theoretical discourse that would accompany critical reflection of the popular education practices. While some of Freire’s principles may have slipped into the pages of history, others have passed the test of time; the belief that “good practice does not merely replicate itself unreflectively” (Eagan, 2010, p. 429) and that educational decision making is inherently political still ring as true today as they did

The Politics of Education

Resuming Old Themes