During visits by the four finalists for our high school principal position one of the members of the search committee asked each the following question, and I am paraphrasing:
“I am a math teacher. How does learning high school mathematics support LREI’s mission of preparing students for participation in ‘our democratic society?’ ”
Each of the four candidates gave good answers, thoughtful and informative. This question has stuck with me and in thinking about it over the past week or so, I have a few thoughts of my own:
There are many parts of daily life that require mathematics. People need to be able to read, understand, and manipulate numbers, quantities and concepts.
- As a society, we are too comfortable saying, “I am not good at math.” One would never publicly say the same about reading. No question, we need to recognize the absolute value of math, math ability and its importance in the lives of all citizens.
- Success in understanding and operating in a variety of disciplines requires math literacy, or numeracy. The sciences are an obvious example. How about geography? Economics? The arts?
- Successfully solving a problem or addressing a situation that requires a mathematical expedition often asks one to be able to choose from a variety of methods, to see a multiple paths, to recognize “the answer” in a variety of guises; all important skills for navigating and participating in a democratic society. (Our lower school students are whizzes at solving one problem with multiple strategies.)
- As one of our math teachers commented to me, “Our math classes are preparation for a democratic society because they are one.”
- The organized, stepwise, methodical, patient work that leads to the solution of a challenging math problem is great training for making one’s way through a knotty problem in the world, whether you are working alone or with others.
As opposed to the way many of us were taught math, our math students are solving problems that are nuanced and multifaceted, requiring a nimble and creative mind. Some choices lead to dead ends and a new route is required. Whether we find success or failure is at least as often determined by the choice of method and by being able to recognize one’s solution as correct or incorrect as it is by the execution of any one particular operation. Mastery of these challenges, when the answer is not in the back of the book, will lead to growth, confidence, increased skill and, eventually, the right answer—the makings of a good citizen.