Mathematics education for democratic citezenship

After reading the Simmt article I agree with the fact that everything in today's society is quantified and numerical so it's important that our mathematics education prepares students for this and that it is also crucial to acknowledge and incorporate the fact that mathematics can be a tool to provide the necessary civic skills required in our society.  I think the main challenge and problem with mathematics is the fact that we are over concerned with correctness.  It's very authoritative in a sense.  The way we test, mark, and teach mathematics is for the most part all based on getting the right answer.  This creates an individually competitive scene which isn't necessarily a bad thing as competitiveness is a form of motivation(I think math needs students who are more motivated).  But it becomes a problem when we start isolating ourselves.  As teachers, and students, we should be promoting collaboration, communication, and conversation amongst each other, much like Simmt points out as one of her arguments for citizen education in mathematics. As Jacob Brownowski says, 

"It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it." 

Students should be willing to challenge and confront ideas rather then just adhering to what the teacher said because he/she is in authority.  Seth Godin says in a similar fashion,  

"You have been brainwashed by school and by the system into believing that your job is to do your job and follow instructions."  

It's important that students learn both skills in my opinion.  Being able to effectively listen and execute what someone else is saying is a life skill that is important in the work force.  But at the same time students should be able to formulate their own opinions and reasoning.  One of the main ways I will teach for democracy is by trying to provide a less isolated environment by getting students to work together, sharing their knowledge with other students via discussion groups, mini presentations, or group research projects.  However, from personal experience, I know that group work can often be problematic as it is hard to delegate who does what and it often turns out to be a one man job.  I also think that technology can be used to teach for democracy.  Via technology we can post notes, videos, links to other resources etc.  This can allow students to learn at their own pace rather then having to struggle to keep up in class.  Also, through the use of blogs or other social networking it is easier for certain individuals to speak their thoughts and is simply better for overall communication.  I know from personal experience in highschool, raising your hand to say something was often very daunting.  Now we can sit behind our computer screens and think about what we really want to say and then ask.  I think technology provides so many opportunities but the problem is that not every student has the latest gadget or device.          

In Mathematics there are plenty of different methods to solve the same problem so we should be encouraging this, not limiting it.  It's important to get collaborative input from all students perspectives. Mathematics shouldn't be based on who is the best "memorizer" but I feel like this is exactly what is happening in Secondary Math.  It's a big contest to see who can follow and memorize the steps correctly.       

"My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.” - Sir Ken Robinson

It is important that we acknowledge creativity rather then linear memorization.  However, the problem is that instrumental teaching is often easier and less time consuming.  But we shouldn't be content with the easy way out. 

Ill end this post with an interesting quote I found from another article speaking on democratic education

 "in the end, we universally teach mathematics in schools in order to educate students; we do not universally educate students in order to teach them mathematics" (For the Learning of Mathematics , Vol. 17, No. 3 (Nov., 1997), pp. 11-16).