I think the way we learn mathematics in school is very focused on 1 method and perspective, which is the traditional way we all know of memorization, copying and repetition. The teacher teaches a lesson, writes out some problems on the board, you practice a few in class and a few on your own while doing the same at home. This approach to math does not take into account the many different types of learners that there are or the many students who may have learning disabilities which would impact their success. I think its oppressive for those students who are not your neurotypical ones, for example those who might have issues with memorization but may excel at more interactive learning. With all the knowledge we have now about how students learn, and how different it can be for many of them than I believe it would be ideal for education as a whole to take a different approach to teaching math. Or at the very least open up that option for those who would like to explore it.
One way the Inuit people up north challenged Eurocentric views on math is by using math as a way of communication as well, developing a precise vocabulary when talking about spatial relations, distance and sense of space. They also used their surroundings, culture and environment to relate to what they were learning in math, therefore making it easier to pick up.
Great perspective in this post, Carlos. You absolutely right- mathematics in particular strongly works to favor neurotypical students. Commonly seen delivery methods within teaching are linear and strict. There seems to be a notion that teaching in an interactive way is bad, or at least not very effective. I wonder how my own understandings of education would have been different if I experienced learning like many Inuit People do.
I like the issues you listed for the math curriculum. What I notice a lot is that not all but a lot of math teachers will do their bit, lecture, and then give you the questions but if you didn’t understand what they taught in the beginning then you’d be out of luck. Even if you asked for more help, they’d just repeat what it was in the beginning. As for the Inuit learnings I like the ones you listed as you outlined some of their bigger views with it.
Math is a very interesting topic to talk about because it truly is learned differently everywhere in the world and is more practical within that culture. But i agree with the only one perspective that we have here, as its really a right or wrong type of system here. Like a lot of times in high school people found other ways of getting the answers but would lose marks because they didn’t use the correct function or whatever to get to the answer but still got the right answer in the end. So things like that i think are very dumb because everyone learns differently so why punish someone for learning their way because its not the “proper way.”