Why Learning Math Is Political | The Jose Vilson

Why Learning Math Is Political | The Jose Vilson:

Why Learning Math Is Political

by Jose

Paul Ryan Cartoon

For my own professional development, I picked up the book Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights by Robert Moses. The book equates the struggles Moses had with developing voter representations amongst the most underrepresented in the South with developing math knowledge / pedagogy into the curriculum in America’s classrooms. Observe:

So algebra, once solely in place as the gatekeeper for higher math and the priesthood who gained access to it, now is the gatekeeper for citizenship; and people who don’t have it are like the people who couldn’t read and write int he industrial age. But because of how access to – the learning of – algebra was organized in the industrial era, its place in society under the old jurisdiction, it has become not a barrier to college entrance, but a barrier to citizenship.

When people tell me that they weren’t born to do math, a small part of me wonders about the ramifications of