What’s Missing
from Math
By Dr. Bryan Smith
M
ATH CLASS is more interesting than it used
to be. Traditionally, the focus has been on drill
and review, with an occasional story problem thrown
in. Now, however, real-world problems dominate the
instruction. Drill and review still get their due, but it is
striking how many story problems there are and how
well-crafted they are. To use the language of education,
these problems are authentic—problems derived from
real-life situations that a typical student can relate to.
You may think the reason for this shift is a desire to
make math interesting. That’s part of it, but it’s more
than that. As one textbook states in its introduction to
students, “It is our goal that you see mathematics as rele-
vant because it provides a common and useful language
for discussing and solving real-world problems.” 1 Real-
world story problems are everywhere because textbook
developers want students to understand that this is what
math is about: math is a powerful tool for describing
reality and addressing its many problems.
What do you see when you examine the hundreds
of story problems in a particular textbook? You come
to discern that textbook’s worldview. Like the colored
threads in a tapestry, these problems combine to form
a way of seeing the world—a way of seeing reality as the
textbook authors perceive it. And if you are looking at a
textbook from a secular publisher, you’re going to find
that something significant is missing.
THIRD-GRADE MATH
Recently, I reviewed Houghton Mifflin’s third-grade math
course, Go Math! 2 I was impressed with how well-stated
the explanations were and how well-aligned the course
was with national standards. I was also impressed with
how the author’s beliefs about diversity came through
in the story problems. Names such as Stephanie, Matt,
and Ryan were common but so were names like Omar,
Jorge, and Roshan. Also, students were often required to
solve problems that come from the real-life situations of
a particular ethnicity. For example, one of the first prob-
lems in the book is a STEM activity that asks students
to figure out how many Abuelita dolls a store owner can
stock on his shelves.
When I looked at the course as a whole, however, I
found that its vision of third-grade life was hollow.
Normal third-graders go to school, have fun with friends,
and take care of their pets, but they never go to church.
They solve problems with school teachers, but they have
no interaction with Sunday school teachers or ministers.
They save money to buy toys and yummy treats, but they
never save money in order to give to a religious cause.
They assist in school food drives, but they never attempt
to help others through the ministry of a church. Sunday
comes up repeatedly in the story problems, but it is never
a day for worship or any kind of religious observance. It
is a day for going to school plays, having fun at a fair, and
enjoying concerts.
Normal third-graders, it seems, are soulless creatures
who solve problems with math but live without any
knowledge of the blessings and responsibilities of being
an image-bearer of God. 3
ALGEBRA 2
It doesn’t get any better in high-school math. After
reviewing Houghton Mifflin, I turned my attention to
Carnegie Learning Algebra II. The real-world problems
are more interesting (mainly because the math is more
advanced). But God remains absent. That’s a shame
because as the problems become more complex, the need
for God and the worldview of Scripture become greater.
This became obvious to me as I focused on the prob-
lems that open each lesson. These openers present a
complex, multifaceted problem. Usually, the ensuing
lesson will come back to the problem repeatedly, show-
ing the students how the math they’re learning can be
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