Sexist Pedagogical Garbage
A few weeks ago I saw this article in the newspaper. I must admit that I was pretty incensed after reading it. It seems to me that this "blame the teacher" cop out is just an attempt to scientifically bolster sexists ideas about math education. All my elementary teachers were women, they all taught me math amongst other topics. I know for a fact that most of them would not consider themselves math experts. Never have I felt that I lacked math ability or skill because of what they taught me. One of my best calculus teachers in university was a woman. I spend a large majority of my teaching day teaching Grade 5-Grade 10 math, as well as other topics. I can attest that my students, for the most part, say that they feel more confident about their ability to do math after sessions with me.
One of my colleagues at the private school that I teach at is a Math PhD. She has a PhD in math. That in itself blew my mind. A few weeks ago, she taught me in 30 secs flat how to find the roots of a quadratic equation, because I had not done it in a while and I had forgotten. When I showed her this article she said "pfft". That is pretty much how I feel about this as well.
What I do agree with in this article is that yes, definitely, as educators we can pass on our insecurities to our students. That is why it is so important to constantly be in dialogue with our students, to be honest with them, and most importantly to be prepared for class. Too often in our underfunded school systems, unqualified teachers are tapped to teach things that they have no clue about. The result is students who can feel the insecurity of the classroom and then in turn think they can "fake" their way through any situation.
Math skills are important. I'm not saying that everyone needs to know the derivative of x^2 (it's 2x, btw); however, it is important that people know how to make change, or even know how many skids of flowers you need for a certain sized flowerbed. To blame female teachers for how female students do in math is very counterproductive. This is where I get on my soapbox and start shouting about the merits of feminist math. However, it is difficult to defend feminist math to people who are defensive about math and feminist practices, therefore I just apply these pedagogical strategies in my own teaching. It's amazing how something like math word problems become exponentially easier when you break it down in a non-traditional manner. It is not about the result, it's about the process. If focus is placed on process and not result, the result will come naturally. So say what you will about elementary female math teachers, chances are it is not insecurities that they are passing on but rather alternative methods of analysis. Alternative methods are often disregarded in favour of traditional analysis that benefits male students.
Also just out of curiosity, I wonder how many women work for the National Science Foundation?
One of my colleagues at the private school that I teach at is a Math PhD. She has a PhD in math. That in itself blew my mind. A few weeks ago, she taught me in 30 secs flat how to find the roots of a quadratic equation, because I had not done it in a while and I had forgotten. When I showed her this article she said "pfft". That is pretty much how I feel about this as well.
What I do agree with in this article is that yes, definitely, as educators we can pass on our insecurities to our students. That is why it is so important to constantly be in dialogue with our students, to be honest with them, and most importantly to be prepared for class. Too often in our underfunded school systems, unqualified teachers are tapped to teach things that they have no clue about. The result is students who can feel the insecurity of the classroom and then in turn think they can "fake" their way through any situation.
Math skills are important. I'm not saying that everyone needs to know the derivative of x^2 (it's 2x, btw); however, it is important that people know how to make change, or even know how many skids of flowers you need for a certain sized flowerbed. To blame female teachers for how female students do in math is very counterproductive. This is where I get on my soapbox and start shouting about the merits of feminist math. However, it is difficult to defend feminist math to people who are defensive about math and feminist practices, therefore I just apply these pedagogical strategies in my own teaching. It's amazing how something like math word problems become exponentially easier when you break it down in a non-traditional manner. It is not about the result, it's about the process. If focus is placed on process and not result, the result will come naturally. So say what you will about elementary female math teachers, chances are it is not insecurities that they are passing on but rather alternative methods of analysis. Alternative methods are often disregarded in favour of traditional analysis that benefits male students.
Also just out of curiosity, I wonder how many women work for the National Science Foundation?
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