Mathematics for human flourishing : Response

 1. Can you describe 2 places in the chapter that made you stop and think?

First: “I don’t like the word success, but people think of me as successful, as if the true measure of my mathematical achievement were the awards I’ve received or the papers I’ve published. “

While most people in the society consider being good at math as a success, most mathematicians truly enjoyed doing math and the external awards are not the most important thing. It should not be described this way. The enjoyment of pure math is more like enjoyment of art. One of friend really liked math and he’s always saying that math is just art. I believe it’s true to some extent. Most high school teachers just treat math as a “method” , a tool. However,  it is a degradation of the higher meanings behind mathematics processes.

 

Second: “society has not taken seriously its obligation to provide a vibrant mathematics education for everyone.” Certainly. Most teachers do not think that math is something to be enjoyed. They themselves do not want to provide students with the experience of enjoying pure math. They convey the notion that math is a must-have tool in order for them to succeed in engineering, science, etc. They view math as “cold, logical and lifeless”. This reminds me of the notion that all beings are alive. I do believe that there is a divine part in all subjects, all living things and all things that human beings do in their minds. The human desires and pursuits could be channeled into the pursuit of math. I liked that idea in the book. 

   

2. What does the phrase "Every being silently cries out to be read differently" (p. 2) mean to you in the context of teaching? Does this phrase connect to your own experiences of learning/teaching?

This means that every being should be respected. Everyone is unique and every student could have different values for different reasons. Different cultures could have different meanings for different things. Some student’s worldviews could be different yet fascinating. Even though we don’t believe that, or we don’t accept that, we should not contradict them without thinking about it. We should not think that our views and our values are over the others’ values. We should try to understand every living being, even the seemingly non-living things. The trees, the sea. Our Indigenous students could possibly think of trees as living beings rather than just a tree. I don’t think we should contradict that, but rather we could find a way to cooperate with them, to allow everyone’s view to be respected and still do our job as a teacher—to provide the necessary details and processes, to provide the evidences, but not to impose on the students our own personal beliefs. We should also not judge a student too quickly because there could be cultural reasons for his behaviors and talks. 

评论

  1. Amanda Fritzlan2021年7月30日 11:45

    The idea of math as an art is lovely - both as a phenomenon and as a practice! I really enjoy your articulation of the connection between the notion of all beings are living and finding meaning in mathematics. What a great thing to bring to students, so grounded! And yes, as teachers, staying open to our own assumptions and biases around world views seems so important!! Thank you for sharing this May!

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