Mathematical education versus critical education

✍ Scribed by Ole Skovsmose

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 968 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0013-1954
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00417191

✦ Synopsis

This paper concentrates upon the relationship between mathematical education (ME) and critical education (CE) connected with the Frankfurt School and Critical Theory. To make the discussion as precise as possible a distinction is made between three alternatives in ME: Strncturalism, pragmatism, and process-orientation. These alternatives are related to the key terms of CE in order to show the extent to which ME and CE contradict each other. The conclusion is that there does not exist any integration -nor even any close relationshipbetween ME and CE.

Finally, this result is discussed in the light of the following two theses:

(A) It is necessary to increase the interaction between ME and CE, if ME is not to degenerate into one of the most important ways of socializing students into the technological society and at the same time destroying the possibilities for developing a critical attitude towards precisely this technological society. (B) It is important for CE to interact with subjects from the technical sciences, and among these ME, ifCE is not to be taken over by the technological development and fade away into an unimportant and uncritical educational theory.