Rehumanizing Math: Better Content, Better Pedagogy, and Better Purpose

Sunil Singh's presentation challenges the traditional approach to mathematics education by advocating for three fundamental shifts: better content that includes diverse mathematical histories, better pedagogy grounded in romance before precision, and better purpose that serves marginalized students. Singh argues that mathematics education has created widespread anxiety and alienation by starting with precision rather than wonder, by erasing the multicultural origins of mathematical concepts, and by focusing solely on external validation rather than internal meaning-making.

"We are at a fork in terms of paths and roads. It is a binary proposition. We're either going to let things go pear-shaped or we're going to go all in and create a world of mathematics which really is for better content, better pedagogy and better purpose for everyone."

"If we don't even have the story of our basic numbers right, then we're gonna we've already veered off the path like it's a joke... we don't even know where the basic idea of mathematics in terms of its number construction and where it came from."

"Most of the math questions students have done since time immemorial... Do not sit in flow, they sit in anxiety, worry, apathy, boredom. Don't ask me, ask the students."

• Singh advocates for Whitehead's sequence of romance-precision-generalization, claiming mathematics education has skipped romance entirely. How might this "romance stage" look in practice across different grade levels? What institutional barriers prevent teachers from prioritizing wonder and story before procedural accuracy?
• Rather than adding cultural elements to existing curriculum, Singh suggests that accurate mathematical history naturally includes diverse contributions. How does this approach to cultural responsiveness differ from current efforts? What are the advantages and potential limitations of this content-centered approach?