As I read Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community, I was able to grow my knowledge on the subject and have a deeper understanding of why we should include FN culture into more subjects. As mentioned in the reading, students are taught and able to speak their native language only until grade 3. After that, they are required to learn either English or French to continue their studies. This for me I thought was a little harsh for these students. To be forced to learn a new language at a young age and forget everything they were taught would be very challenging. As educators I do not think there is very much thought that goes into a transition like this one. They grow up learning in a different language with different meanings behind things that we know. To learn a whole new vocabulary and set of rules for math especially must be difficult. I think the system does discriminate Inuit students as they are forced to transition from their own language to one they barely know. There is not a lot of help or guidance for them at schools for students to expand their language and not fall behind in work. We do not include as much of FN based learning in schools today and I think there should be more attention to that matter.
In Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community, there were a few ideas where the writer suggests that the Inuit mathematics challenge the Eurocentric ideas of math and how we learn it. The Inuit have a different understanding of mathematics and multiple different words that mean many things. This could create issues with the transition from Inuktitut to English/French. Having a understanding of what a word means and then being told that you are wrong and have to re-learn everything could put a strain on you. “Furthermore, Inuit mathematics is quite different.
For example, theirs is a base-20 numeral system” (Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community, Poirier, p 54). With this being said, a change this big can have an effect on how students learn the material. Lastly, there is also a big difference in how they were taught to measure. Using your body as a guide to measure things is something that is a little uncommon and not seen in the Eurocentric views.
Poirier, L. (2007). Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community, Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 7(1), p. 53-67.