Comments on: Am I a mathematician?

By: ATrzepacz

ATrzepacz — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 02:49:32 +0000

The controversy of everyone being a mathematician is continuously occurring at my school. On one side we have our principal and about half the staff who believe this 100%. On the other, we have the rest of the staff that just does not think so. That is scary and daunting. As a staff, the first hurdle I believe we need to jump is that fear of math. Then eventually students will decide if math is their calling or not but not based on fear rather on interest. Teachers should help students open that door. Then students can decide to walk through it or not.

By: Amy Tanner

Amy Tanner — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 22:08:36 +0000

This is something I've been thinking about a lot as a teacher educator. I believe it's really important for the preservice teachers in my classes to believe that every child they teach can be a math person, and should be given access to beautiful and important mathematics. I believe it's important for parents to believe this, too. But in spite of teachers' and parents' (and my) best efforts, I also believe not everyone will end up a math person, and that's okay. I tell my preservice teachers that not every student they teach will decide that math is their thing, but the opportunity to decide that it's their thing should not be closed to them when they are still in elementary or middle or high school. So I love the way you put it, that "everyone should be properly invited into the field". That seems like a worthwhile goal, and a worthwhile way to frame the purpose of teaching mathematics at any level.

By: Deborah Peart

Deborah Peart — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 03:20:01 +0000

So excited about this well stated perspective! I’ve been saying it for years. Being a mathematician should be a choice, but knowing how to use mathematics to make sense of the world is quite different. Everyone deserves access to high quality math instruction and an understanding about how mathematics is relevant in our everyday lives. I am not a mathematician, nor do I want to be. I am however an advocate for equitable math instruction for all and hope to be a small part of the solution for the opportunity gap that exists. Thanks for this post.