Math Abuse and the Riskable Classroom

Math Abuse

Math abuse consists of the experiences in math classes that make students feel stupid, put down or devalued, experiences that interfere with one’s ability to develop mathematically and to further one’s experience with and learning of mathematics.

For example, when only the "right" answer gotten by the "right" method is given any credence, when questions are labeled "stupid," when saying, "I don’t understand" gets looks of annoyance and disgust, when failure to give the "right" answer in quick fashion earns chastisement and even physical punishment, students learn that they can do nothing "right." They learn that they cannot trust math teachers to be nurturing—of them or their mathematical abilities.

That math abuse exists is evident by the level of math anxiety in our students and in the public. The report "Everybody Counts" from the National Research Council (1989) states "mathematics is seen not as something that people actually use, but as a best forgotten (and often painful) requirement of school. For most members of the public, their lasting memories of school mathematics are unpleasant--since often the last mathematics course they took convinced them to take no more."

Overcoming math abuse involves a process of personal empowerment and pride within a math classroom or environment.

Riskable Classroom

The riskable classroom is a safe place for students to risk doing mathematics, an environment where students are encouraged to express themselves and find their own personal power and knowledge.

Students who were math abused need to relearn how to relate to mathematics, to relearn how to learn mathematics. They need to re-establish their own personal power in encountering mathematics. This requires the ability to take "mathematical risks." In doing and learning mathematics, mathematicians readily take "mathematical risks."

In order to be successful in their encounters with mathematics, math abused students must learn to engage the creative and intuitive side of mathematics; and in order to do this they must be willing to take "mathematical risks." A mathematics teacher can help this process by providing a nurturing, supportive environment where students are encouraged to express themselves and find their own personal power and knowledge.

from: Kellermeier, J. (1996). Feminist pedagogy in teaching general education mathematics: Creating the riskable classroom. Feminist Teacher, 10(1), 8-11.