MAED 314A: Battleground Schools Summary & Reflection

Battles over Mathematics education in North America has been fought over and over again ever since 1900. These conflicts are based on the dichotomies of conservative and progressive views. Gerofsky has summarized that the debate in Mathematics teaching and learning is related to the broader arguments on the nature and location of knowledge, the democratization of education, and views of authority and obedience.
Complicating these conflicts is that Math education is generally not well-received by the public. Gerofsky has stated that the math-phobic attitudes from the different interest groups of parents, administrators, policymakers, and teachers have contributed to a conservative Mathematics education in North American public school systems. However, there have been three major movements in the twentieth-century: the Progressivist, the New Math, and the Math Wars based on NCTM Standards reforms that are influential to the Mathematics education today. During the Progressive reform movement from 1910-1940, traditional teaching is criticized to be ‘meaningless memorized procedures’. In addition, with the change in societal structures, the reform for a meaningful mathematics curriculum is inevitable. One of the representative figures of this era would be John Dewey who believes in allowing students to do math would help them in actually gaining knowledge. Dewey’s work has definitely refocused the emphasis in the curriculum for more independent and problem-solving skills. Moving onward to 1960, the New Math movement has been brought about by the scientific competition with the Soviet Union. With the pressure of competing, the curriculum has drastic changes in the goal of better preparing American children to excel in scientific fields. The change however is controversial and has ended by 1970. Lastly, there is the Math Wars movement that has begun in 1990s and continued to present. By mid-1980s, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has set its own standards and there are changes made to follow the standards. Nonetheless, due to the different interest groups and their views on mathematics curriculum and teaching methods the ‘Math War’ does not seem to end anytime soon.
After reading this article, I definitely have a better understanding over the history of Mathematics education and movements. I do not know about these conflicts before and how they have contributed to the curriculum we have today in the school systems. The subject of education is a heated debate for all the different interest groups. Everyone has his or her own opinions on what teaching and learning should be. Incorporating political and religious agendas, it is wisely said that it is indeed a never-ending battle. These conflicts are essential to the movements we have had over the past century. But Mathematics education is still relatively quite conservative. It seems impossible to reach a consensus to make everyone happy. Nonetheless, we should continue to make changes for the better.