Obi Wan and Mathematics Education

I’ve been thinking about my perceptions this semester. You see, for the first time in about 4 years, I am not teaching a ‘reasoning’ course — neither our Quantitative Reasoning course (Math119) nor our Math Lit course (Math105). Of course, I miss those classes. However, I am actually not aware of missing them on a daily basis. In fact, I am quite comfortable.

Which led me to the memory of a certain movie moment. Jedi-to-be Luke is angry with the Jedi master Obi Wan, after learning that Obi Wan did not tell him the truth.

Luke, you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

Our point of view is primarily determined by our environment and attitude. My environment is more traditional this semester; symbolic manipulation and correct answers are high on the list of outcomes. Like most of us, my attitude when in this environment is impacted by the ‘comfort’ and ‘familiar’ feelings. I know this … I have competence … this is good.

As a profession, most of us have not yet had the opportunity to take a different point of view about mathematics education. The majority of math classes are traditional at this time; over the next 5 years, that will change. So … what comes first: a point of view that supports a reform curriculum, OR experience teaching a reform curriculum?

Like most philosophical questions, there is not a good answer for this question. However, I will suggest that some of us will need to support a reform curriculum before we have a point of view that is consistent with it. Understanding comes from experience, and understanding something as complex as the mathematics curriculum in college is a long process. Early in our New Life Project, some colleagues were suggesting that the best thing to do was to teach a lesson for instructors in the way a reform class would teach it; this would have been a waste of effort: those who do not yet understand why a class would be taught that way … would not understand what they are seeing.

Change just happens. Progress occurs when some of us are willing to walk a path we do not yet understand. In some ways, there is nothing more rewarding than beginning a journey without understanding and then finding both understanding and things of beauty along the way.

However you look at issues in developmental mathematics and college mathematics in general, do not let other people put you in a box that says ‘inferior’ or ‘will not change’. I have faith in each of us, that we are able to become more than we have been. Our environment determines much about our point of view, and it’s hard to move out of that causality loop. It takes courage; it takes some inspiration. I have been impressed by math faculty who have grown in this way.

Especially if you think that the traditional curriculum has much to offer, I hope you will join me on this journey to a better place … a place where we do more for our students, where students are enabled to reach their goals, a place where good mathematics shines in our classrooms. You are needed; we can not reach our goal without you.

Developmental Mathematics Revival!

Bringing a new vitality to college mathematics 2011 to 2019