Manjeet Mahal
MAED 314
Response to “Citizenship Education in the Context of School Mathematics
Throughout this article, Elaine Simmt argues that mathematics has an important part in citizenship education because it can help us understand our world and play a role in shaping it. Moreover, she argues that mathematics develops people into informed, active, and critical citizens in a society that is greatly shaped by math.
I agree with Simmt that math is all around us. We cannot go through one day without seeing or doing something that is connected to math. Quantification is an essential part of our society. Having “basic” math knowledge, such as being able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, makes it much easier to make it through everyday life because we constantly need these skills to do simple tasks such as cooking. I also think it is essential to be able to work with fractions. Furthermore, I agree with Simmt that problem solving is an important part of our world. Problem solving requires people to really use their mind to come to a conclusion. Therefore, I think that problem solving promotes citizenship education because it gets people questioning and analyzing issues and problems. However, unlike Simmt, I do not believe math plays an integral role in citizenship education.
I believe that as math teachers we can encourage students to become better citizens by teaching them respect, open-mindedness, and to view issues/judgments from different perspectives. However, I do not believe that math itself plays a vital role in doing this. According to me, math is a subject that is not open to a great deal of discussion or critique. I believe that there exists many ways to find a solution to a mathematical problem; however, to many of these problems there exists only one right answer. For example, a person can find the third side of a right triangle by using Pythagorean Theorem or trigonometry; however, no matter what method is used the answer will be the same. Hence, I do not view math as a subject, such as social studies, that can be constantly questioned. Furthermore, I like the way that math has a right answer because then you can always know if you are right or wrong and you feel a sense of accomplishment when you get the correct answer.
Overall, I believe that students should be able to ask “why” a certain theorem or problem is the way it is and I believe students have a right to question math techniques; however, I feel that in the end mathematics cannot be questioned too much because math theorems are proven to be true.
Yes, math is an important part of the world and I think that it is essential that math is learned; nevertheless, I do not feel mathematics is a major contributor to citizenship education. According to me, all teachers, regardless of whether he/she teaches math, should help and guide students to become “better” citizens. Therefore, teachers develop students into active, informed, critical citizens – not mathematics.
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