Reflection on Battleground Schools

 There were a few points and themes that stuck out to me while reading Susan's article. The first was the overwhelming influence and importance of the government when it comes to education and curriculum. As someone who intentionally stays out of politics, it's always a jarring experience when I realize just how crucial government is to the way we live our lives. I recall a teacher of mine from high school (she was no ordinary teacher and has probably been the most influential person when it comes to motivating me both directly, and indirectly to become a teacher) telling me when I was 15 that when I get older, my friends and I will be discussing politics all day long. I brushed her off at the time and I remember her telling me to just wait and see. Although we don't discuss politics all day, we do discuss it a lot and as much as I try to avoid it, it's difficult to not see the every day implications that the elected government has on society. I could write on this topic for many days, but it was appalling to see the different shifts in mathematics curriculum based on political agendas and the government. 

Another point that stuck out for me was when Susan said, "Polarization into conservative and progressivist camps has served to obscure some of the actual commonalities between the two camps." This point struck me because it is something I believe to be a large issue in the Western world today. Dichotomization is in my opinion a plague in society. The inability to exist on a spectrum and instead boiling someone down to one or the other plays a large role in constant tension that exists in our society today. To be a democrat, or a republican, liberal or a conservative, climate change or not and the list can go on and on. People's identities have been reduced, and their entire makeup has been categorized into these polar opposite traits. The implication of these identities being polar opposites is that one automatically feels as though the other is their enemy. We are all such complex individuals and I almost find it comedic when someone reduces their identity down to a political affiliation. "I am a democrat!" "I am a republican!" As if claiming either of those two things automatically comes with a set list of who someone is and what their beliefs are. It's a peculiar world. It reminds me of the issues I had as a young adult with the question, "what do you want to be?" or "what do you want to do?". People often ask these questions to teenagers and young adults and for a long time the question confused me. After it hit me that in some ways people were reducing one's ambitions down to their careers or jobs, my dissatisfaction with certain societal views certainly grew. It was interesting, what someone does from 9-5 dictates who they are? I remember after critically thinking about the question for a long time, when people would ask me I would respond with all seriousness, "a good person". Some would laugh, some would be confused. I made it a mission to make people spell out their true question explicitly - "what job or career do you want to have" because it was imperative to me that my identity not be reduced to the way I earn my wage. 

Susan also said, "…many of whom got by in school mathematics by memorizing procedures and algorithms without much sense of why they worked, or that any alternative approach was possible." This one hit home for me, because I'm the person Susan is talking about. Exploratory mathematics was never my thing and I always got by just memorizing how to solve certain questions. Mental math was my strongpoint and algebra came to me easily as well but beyond this I had (have?) no true grasp of exploratory mathematics. This made me think about what qualifies me to be a math teacher. Certainly, I love math - the math that induces problem solving and a whole way of thinking critically. But it also points out a gaping hole in my knowledge - I have to become a subject matter expert in the math I wish to teach. If I only know one way to solve certain things in calculus, how can I teach it relationally to a class of 30 students? I have been aware of this lack of knowledge and I certainly hope to address it over the course of the next year on my individual time before I become a certified teacher, God willing.