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The Seattle school district is planning to infuse all K-12 math classes with ethnic-studies questions that encourage students to explore how math has been 鈥渁ppropriated鈥� by Western culture and used in systems of power and oppression, a controversial move that puts the district at the forefront of a movement to 鈥渞ehumanize鈥� math.

The outlines strands of discussion that teachers should incorporate into their classes. One leads students into exploring math鈥檚 roots 鈥渋n the ancient histories of people and empires of color.鈥� Another asks how math and science have been used to oppress and marginalize people of color, and who holds power in a math classroom.

Another theme focuses on resistance and liberation, encouraging students to recognize the mathematical practices and contributions of their own communities, and looking at how math has been used to free people from oppression.

Seattle鈥檚 proposals land as schools all over the country are discussing the role ethnic studies should play in their curricula. In most places, if schools offer ethnic studies at all, it鈥檚 usually in a stand-alone course in high school. But increasingly, schools and districts are starting to sprinkle ethnic studies across the K-12 spectrum. Seattle is taking a highly unusual approach by weaving the field鈥檚 multicultural and political questions not just through all grade levels, but into all subjects.

Seattle鈥檚 four-page framework is still in the proposal stage. If adopted, its ideas will be included in existing math classes as part of the district鈥檚 broader effort to infuse ethnic studies into all subjects across the K-12 spectrum. Tracy Castro-Gill, Seattle鈥檚 ethnic studies director, said her team hopes to have frameworks completed in all subjects by June for board approval.

If the frameworks are approved, teachers would be expected to incorporate those ideas and questions into the math they teach beginning next fall, Castro-Gill said. No districtwide鈥攐r mandated鈥攎ath/ethnic studies curriculum is planned, but groups of teachers are working with representatives of local community organizations to write instructional units for teachers to use if they wish, she said.

鈥淪eattle is definitely on the forefront with this,鈥� said Robert Q. Berry III, the president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. 鈥淲hat they鈥檙e doing follows the line of work we hope we can move forward as we think about the history of math and who contributes to that, and also about deepening students鈥� connection with identity and agency.鈥�

Seattle鈥檚 framework reflects ideas and practices that NCTM has outlined in publications such as last year鈥檚 鈥�,鈥� Berry noted. That report argues, among other things, for renewed focus on helping students see how math affects the lives of millions, in social media algorithms, polling data, and world finance.

But what some see as leading-edge work, others view as misguided. Seattle鈥檚 proposed guidelines caused a furor on social media after Rod Dreher, an editor for The American Conservative, . In a Twitter thread dubbed #WokeMath, critics sneered at the district鈥檚 blend of math and oppression, and zeroed in on parts of the framework that ask, 鈥淗ow important is it to be right?鈥� and 鈥淲ho gets to say if an answer is right?鈥�

Seattle talk-radio host Dori Monson jumped into the fray on his own blog, asking, 鈥淒id you realize when you subtracted one number from another that you were disenfranchising people by using Western math?鈥� Liz Wheeler, a host on One America News, tweeted that Seattle 鈥渋s now teaching kids as young as Kindergarten that math is racist.鈥�

Castro-Gill said that one elementary school has been trying out some of the ideas from the new framework, but she wouldn鈥檛 name the school 鈥渂ecause of the hate and vitriol鈥� on social media.

鈥極f Course There Are Right Answers鈥�

She said opponents have misconstrued the proposed guidelines, especially the section about right answers.

鈥淥f course there are right answers in math. We鈥檙e not saying there aren鈥檛,鈥� Castro-Gill said.

鈥淲hat we鈥檙e saying is that there are many ways of reaching conclusions, and that process should include dialogue. If a student got the right answer, we should celebrate that ingenuity and intelligence instead of telling them there is only one way to get to that right answer.鈥�

When too many black and Latino students see no place for themselves in math and science, Castro-Gill said, it鈥檚 important to be explicit about how their own cultures contribute to math and how they can use it to make their communities, and the world, better.

Seattle鈥檚 new math framework grew out of a 2017 community campaign, led by the NAACP, for more attention to ethnic studies. Its work to blend math and ethnic studies draws on conversations that have been unfolding for decades in the field of ethnomathematics, which focuses on cultural links to math, and in a movement known as 鈥渞ehumanizing math.鈥�

Ethnomathematics, which studies the intersection of math and culture, took shape in the late 1970s, introduced by Brazilian math professor Ubirat脿n D鈥橝mbrosio. Leading thinkers in the field now include Linda Furuto at the University of Hawaii at M膩noa and Filiberto Barajas-L贸pez at the University of Washington鈥檚 school of education in Seattle.

More recently, some scholars, most prominently Rochelle Guti茅rrez at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, have begun advocating for a 鈥渞ehumanizing鈥� of mathematics, which places dynamics such as race and oppression at the center of conversations about math and culture.

Guti茅rrez noted that math organizations that focus on the preparation and oversight of math teachers back key concepts that appear in Seattle鈥檚 proposed guidelines. , for instance, say new math teachers should 鈥渦nderstand the roles of power, privilege, and oppression in the history of mathematics education.鈥�

鈥淢ath education has been very focused on access and closing the achievement gap, around grit and growth mindset. Those ideas are centered around individuals, and ways of thinking they need to adopt. We haven鈥檛 focused enough on identity or systems of power,鈥� Guti茅rrez said.

鈥淪tudents should be able to see themselves in the curriculum, recognize math as a tool for making their lives better, and question what math is, and the purpose of math,鈥� she said.

Expanding Inquiry Into the Purpose of Math

A top official at one math organization agreed to talk only anonymously about the new framework to avoid becoming part of the controversy. Starting the conversation with a sigh, he said it鈥檚 too bad that Seattle blended important ideas with highly controversial ones.

鈥淲e all want students of color to be included, believe they can learn math, and see themselves as mathematicians,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important for them to learn about great contributions to mathematics from all cultures鈥擨ndian and Chinese and Babylonian.

鈥淏ut you don鈥檛 need to talk about liberation and oppression and how Western mathematics has somehow taken over. It just turns people off and makes the goal of being inclusive that much tougher.鈥�

Other leaders in math education welcomed Seattle鈥檚 push to incorporate political and cultural questions into math, and some said they鈥檇 been including similar questions in their teaching for years.

Berry, of the NCTM, recalls an exercise he did with aspiring math teachers when he taught at the University of Virginia. Berry gave his students a drawing of a square. One half was filled with red dots, and the other half with blue dots. Students had to find various ways of dividing the space, some structured to let the red dots win, and others to let the blue dots win.

鈥淚t was a lesson in gerrymandering,鈥� Berry said. 鈥淚t showed how we can create structures with geometry to get the outcomes we want politically. We can construct them for advantage or disadvantage.鈥�

Peggy Brookins, the president and CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, said she got pushback to culturally sensitive strategies as a high school math teacher in the mid 1980s.

Capitalizing on her school鈥檚 location near NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Brookins linked her lessons to the astronauts鈥� work. As her students studied exponents and the power of 10, she had them calculate the speed at which rockets left Earth鈥檚 orbit, and led a discussion of how astronauts of color had struggled to find roles in NASA鈥檚 programs.

鈥淢y principal came and asked me to step outside,鈥� recalled Brookins. 鈥淗e said a parent had called and said he didn鈥檛 send his daughter to school to learn about black people.鈥�

Her principal backed her up, telling the angry parent that there were many private schools in town if he wished to transfer his daughter. But the experience stuck with Brookins.

鈥淚 get what Seattle鈥檚 doing. I get where they鈥檙e coming from,鈥� she said. 鈥淧eople need to realize culturally responsive pedagogy in ways they haven鈥檛 historically.鈥�