After reading the excerpts from David Stocker's Maththatmatters, I have gained a whole new perspective on the teaching of mathematics in school. Through thoughtful planning with the goal of engaging students' interest, the teacher can transform ordinary math lessons to topics that address social and environmental issues in the world. I was impressed by how often we take a "real-life" problem to do math operations when instead it may be more beneficial to apply math skills on issues that matter to the society. In this context, Stocker's topics would not necessarily be considered as "neutral" because he does incorporate his own point of view. This kind of approach tends to raise concerns over the bias of a topic but I believe it is also our duty to encourage students to think critically.
Even though Stocker's book focuses on middle school mathematics, I am positive that these topics can be tailored to teach secondary mathematics as well. Secondary students may be able to take a stand strongly on these issues or going further, to develop some topics into their own research projects. This will definitely be more time-consuming but ultimately the students will learn math in more depth, consider social justice matters and eventually take actions to make a brighter future.
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