Social Justice
and Mathematics:
A time for renewed implementation?
ISSUES IN MATHEMATICS
EDUCATION
and I wonder if as mathematics teachers it is something to
explore.
Social justice and mathematics
Social Justice and
Mathematics: A
time for renewed
implementation?
BY SEAN CHORNEY
I don’t typically embrace contemporary pop culture, yet
once in a while I can’t help myself. When I first stumbled
across ‘Last Week with John Oliver’, I was initially drawn to
the social sensibility he was delivering. In many episodes
he gives voice to the down trodden and directs criticism
toward the apparent cause. While his rationale was frequently
oversimplified, he was at least addressing important issues.
As I watched more episodes, to my surprise, I noticed that he
commonly identified social problems with a mathematical
approach. And, although I’m not advocating for the watching
of a weekly HBO show (but I do recommend it), I’m more
interested in the fact that this reasonably popular show draws
on mathematics to highlight social injustice.
The combination of social justice issues and mathematics
prompted me to introduce a social justice assignment
in a mathematics methods class at Simon Fraser University
(SFU) this past summer. Not wanting to impose my own
interests in the assignment, I offered the social justice assignment
as a choice amongst two other options. Somewhat surprisingly
23 out of 29 students chose the social justice assignment.
This number could possibly be a result of how I introduced
or talked about the assignment or even a dislike of the
alternate assignments, yet it seems that the social justice
assignment interested these students, and they were clearly
not avoiding it. The popularity of ‘Last Week with John
Oliver’ shows a general interest in dealing with social justice
issues. Are students, and people in general, more willing
to talk about the challenges in our society, the grave
injustices that seem (at least according to John Oliver) all
around us, and if so, should that inspire us as mathematics
teachers and educators to act? Could it be time to remind
ourselves of the possibilities of what we can do with mathematics
and draw upon some serious world issues that affect us directly
or indirectly? In either case, issues of relevance should not
be ignored. Social justice exists in the collective consciousness,
Combining social justice and mathematics is not new.
Throughout the 20th century, and more emergent in the later
half, along with the development of the field of sociology,
mathematics has often been a way of identifying injustices of
various forms from the number of people living in poverty
to government spending on nuclear arms. In fact, evidence
suggests that mathematics is the most relevant and powerful
way to address issues of social justice (Garii & Appova).
However, this is not formally addressed in curriculum or
textbooks, at least not explicitly, partly due to the challenge
that social issues change continuously while textbooks
and curriculum not so much. Many come to the implicit
conclusion: math is apolitical and neutral. But this is not so
as was indicated to me many years ago while teaching a grade
11 class.
While teaching a lesson on maximum/minimum problems,
my class had discussed the problem of maximizing the profit
in a theatre. Although I don’t remember the details of the
problem, the question hasn’t changed much from current
presentations in textbooks or online max/min questions.
It went something like this: a theatre with 1000 seats can be
filled if the tickets are $12 but for every increase of $0.25 the
theatre will lose 5 attendees. After solving the problem with
the class I had started to think about the next activity when
a student asked about the purpose of the question. If, for
example, as she suggested, the goal was to fill the theatre so
that as many people as possible could see the show then the
price should remain at $12. Although the question was worded
such that it implied an economic perspective asking for the
maximum profit, by not addressing other considerations, it
can be argued that some students will come to see that an
economic perspective may be the only perspective.
This was a profound lesson for me. I realized that although
this type of question has existed for a long time, and I had
used it many times before, there is an implicit message
conveyed that mathematics focuses solely on economic
efficiency. I do not discount the importance of mathematics
to inform such a perspective, yet I believe it important to
consider that this is one of many lenses with which we can
attend to problems. While efficiency might be helpful at
times, alternate perspectives are important to discuss and
possibly implement if more appropriate. For example, filling
the theatre could be more economically efficient. Although
it will lead to a more complex mathematical model, if the
show is good and showing for more than one night, filling
the theatre may be more economically efficient because there
will be more people to spread the news that the show is worth
seeing. This particular lesson of mine is about the exclusion
of people based on a ticket price; it is a social justice issue that
matters. In this case, it’s not only about filling the seats of a
theatre, it is also about seeing a mathematics problem from
different perspectives.
Vector • Fall 2015
9
Resources
Once John Oliver had reminded me of the significance
mathematics can have to illuminate social issues, a quick
survey of mathematics and social justice in the library drew
Rethinking Mathematics to my attention. In my reading and
researching this summer, this was one resource that stood out.
I share it here because it is in book format as well as hosted by
a website. While the book may not be quickly accessible to all
its corresponding website is. (radicalmath.org)
I do apologize for only referencing American resources, if I
am missing some Canadian materials I ask the reader to let
me know or to contribute their own piece to Vector. Ultimately
this article is in exploration phase, and in no way exhaustive,
please send resources our way.
What is social justice?
There is no consensus as to what social justice is. However,
one might identify social justice as the issues surrounding
equity, privilege and/or power relations, particularly when
one group benefits significantly and dominates another. The
current issue of payday loans exemplifies this definition.
A May 15th article in the Globe and Mail (still currently online
and available, see references for web address) addressed some
factors of payday loans, one of which identified annual interest
rates in some provinces to be as high as 60%. I thought credit
cards were bad. The issue is not to avoid payday loans, but
rather that if a payday loan was required, why should the
borrower be penalized to such an extent, particularly if they
are living below the poverty line and not able to move out of
their low paying job. Whatever the case might be, why is the
interest rate 60% and not a little more reasonable? I would
suggest this is an issue of social justice because typically those
who use payday loans are not given a voice and there are no
advocates. Additionally, payday loan providers may argue
that they provide a service with high financial risk. While a
fair argument, it does not take away from the fact that lowincome workers are placed in a position of making ongoing
payments to a short-term loan. Although issues are never
that simple, there is undoubtedly an aspect of the privileged
taking opportunity of the disadvantaged. The mathematics of
60% interest compounded can be a very revealing lesson for
students. In this case social justice is not simply about making
mathematics more relevant; it is about using our discipline
to reveal prevalent inequity and injustice. It is a step beyond
showing graphs that misrepresent and asking why or how
certain graphs can mislead but also the bigger story as to why
a company might want to misrepresent data.
Classroom implementation
Implementing social justice issues in a mathematics class can
be categorized in two ways: social justice as content or social
justice as context.
As content, a social justice approach will be similar to a
mathematical application. Once some mathematics is taught,
10
the concept can be implemented in a situation. For example,
the class might learn about proportions and then look for
ways to confirm that proportions are useful. To use a social
justice topic, you could ask students to find the average rental
price of a home in Vancouver and in an arbitrary city, Calgary,
say, and then find the ratio rental price and value of the home.
We might find that relative to house prices rent in Vancouver
is quite low compared to Calgary. Why is this so?
Social justice in context is when mathematics is not taught first
but the social justice issue is addressed through discussion.
For example, a social situation is explored, and there is an
attempt to understand, define and model the problem. After
discussing the social issue the mathematics emerges from
the ideas of the students in terms of what they would like to
explore.
The difference between these two approaches is profound.
Using social justice as content is an attempt to make
mathematics seem relevant while using social justice as
context the mathematics emerges from conversation and is
intricately connected to the students’ construction of a model
of the situation.
New curriculum
While there is no specific social justice ‘content’ in the new
curriculum, there is ample support for it in the expressions of
the core competencies. The core competencies include critical
thinking and personal and social responsibility, each tie
intricately with the integration of the social issues of the times
with one’s own personal stance and perspective. This new
curriculum shifts from the notion of knowledge acquisition
to the consideration of being a social being integrated and
connected with a community. We do not act alone; we affect
others by the choices we make. With this in mind, the way that
mathematics is taught is no longer apolitical but has significant
ramifications to oneself, one’s family and one’s community.
In whatever capacity, mathematics is meaningful because the
connections to ‘new understandings’ in new contexts, in social
justice contexts, are part of the curriculum.
As the social responsibility competency elaborates in the new
curriculum draft, students are to “contribute positively to one’s
family, community, society and the environment, to resolve
problems peacefully; to empathize with others and appreciate
their perspectives” (BC Ministry of Education). As teachers
in BC, we find ourselves with a lot of autonomy and thus have
the potential to draw on issues to develop new lenses (both
mathematical and social) to see the world.
There is no one-to-one correspondence between world
issues and mathematics. It is in no way an ideal partnership.
If anything it may be a messy and challenging endeavor.
But while the difficulty of dealing with this marriage of
mathematics and social justice is difficult, the integration
allows students to engage in talking, in questioning and in
expressing an agency towards something that might have
profound meaning. In this way, the neutrality of mathematics
Vector • Fall 2015
is challenged because it is not about mathematics ‘fitting’
easily into a problematic context but being integrated in a
discussion where not all intelligent perspectives will agree.
‘IN’ our own classrooms
On a more personal level, social justice can take the form of
an approach that also values the sense of equity within our
own classrooms. Social justice does not have to be confined
to issues in the news. They can be issues within the walls of
our classrooms. For example, if social justice is seen to be
about equity, we might ask ourselves whether we are giving
equal access to learning opportunities to all our students. Are
we giving students ample opportunities to provide evidence
of their learning? Are we using grades as a gatekeeper for
their future opportunities? Does everyone have access to
technology? Does our practice provide equitable access to
successful outcomes? While the answers to these questions
are never ideal, the purpose of social justice is less about fixing
problems than it is about discussing them. This is a bit of relief.
It means that social justice is not about knowing everything
there is to know about a subject and then to introduce it;
teaching social justice is not about answers but about differing
perspectives and opportunities. It is about noticing things
around us with different frames of reference. It is a model by
which to organize our classrooms. So in the case of raising
the minimum wage to $15/hour, questions are really the most
important approach to the issue. While one may think that
an increase in wage will help low income workers provide for
their families, one should question whether this change will
have any negative repercussions? Mathematics in this case
might reveal certain issues but is clearly not going to provide
an answer. While mathematics might reveal the high cost of
having an unpaid Visa bill, it will not provide a solution to
debt.
The idea of social justice in mathematics is not a pathway
to successful mathematics teaching. Students may still ask,
“Why are we learning this stuff?” but it is an opportunity
that I feel is in the air. There is a consciousness of care and
concern developing in our midst, and as educators, we have an
opportunity to align our subject matter with these sensibilities.
With the support of our curriculum and supporting resources,
the time abounds with opportunities to provide alternative
perspectives to our students for their own education and
learning. It is only just.
Through awareness and action, by eliciting the voices of ones
that are often kept silent and providing a connection between
mathematics and some of the issues that affect our students’
own lives, injustice can be alleviated.
Vector welcomes any articles, lesson plans and commentaries
of the inclusion of social justice in mathematics. Please
forward your pieces to the editors.
References
BC Ministry of Education. Transforming curriculum and
assessment. www.curriculum.gov.bc.ca
Garii, B. & Appova, A. (2012). Crossing the great divide:
Teacher candidates, mathematics, and social justice. Teaching
and Teacher Education: 34 (198-213).
Grant, T. & McFarland, J. Payday loans: Predatory loan sharks
or crucial fix in a pinch? www.theglobeandmail.com/reporton-business/payday-loans-predatory-loan-sharks-or-crucialfix-in-a-pinch/article24463029/
Gutstein, E. & Peterson, B. (2006). Rethinking Mathematics:
Teaching social justice by the numbers. Rethinking schools,
Ltd.
Website: www.radicalmath.org
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