CRITICAL MATHEMATICS EDUCATION AN APPLICATION OF PAULO FREIRE’S EPISTEMOLOGY.doc

CRITICAL MATHEMATICS EDUCATION: AN APPLICATION OF PAULO FREIRE’S EPISTEMOLOGY ABSTRACT: Paulo Freire’s critical education theory is “re-invented” in the context of a mathematics curriculum for urban working-class adults. The problems Freire poses for teachers in that context are explored and work of other theorists which deepens or questions aspects of Freire’s theory is discussed. Next, Freire’s theory is applied to teaching basic mathematics and statistics for the social sciences. It is argued that such mathematical literacy is vital in the struggle for liberatory social change in our advanced technological society. Finally, this reflection on practice is used to pose further problems to be explored in the creation and re-creation of the “pedagogy of the oppressed.” Knowledge of basic mathematics and statistics is an important part of gaining real popular, democratic control over the economic, political, and social structures of our society. Liberatory social change requires an understanding of the technical knowledge that is too often used to obscure economic and social realities. When we develop specific strategies for an emancipatory education, it is vital that we include such mathematical literacy. Statistics is usually abandoned to “experts” because it is thought too difficult for most people to understand. Since this knowledge is also considered value-free, it is rarely questioned. In attempting to create an approach to mathematics education that can lead both to greater control over knowledge and to critical consciousness, it is important to have an adequate pedagogical theory that can guide and illuminate specific classroom practices. I want to argue that Paulo Freire’s “pedagogy of the oppressed” can provide the theoretical foundation for that practice. Freire’s educational theory is complex. In this essay, I will focus on the problems he poses that are particularly pressing for teachers in schools in the United States. For this reason, I will not treat h