Skip to main content

Mathematically Gifted Education: Some Political Questions

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Creativity and Giftedness

Part of the book series: Advances in Mathematics Education ((AME))

Abstract

This chapter is devoted to political questions in mathematics education. The practice of recognizing certain children as more gifted than others and selecting them accordingly becomes inevitably a focus of public attention, frequently giving rise to disagreements, finding itself at the heart of political discussions, sometimes instigating such discussions, and sometimes reflecting already existing conflicts. Without attempting an exhaustive analysis, the author describes certain episodes, aspects, and slogans of such political battles, while posing some questions for further study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abdeljaouad, M. (2014). Mathematics education in the Islamic countries in the modern time: Case study of Tunisia. In A. Karp & G. Schubring (Eds.), Handbook on the history of mathematics education (pp. 405–428). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). (n.d.) Secret apartheid II. Retrieved at May 1, 2015, from http://web.archive.org/web/20070714102424/http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=540 .

  • Alexeeva, L. M. (2012). Istoriya inakomysliya v SSSR: noveishii period [History of dissent in the USSR: Recent years]. Moscow: Moskovskaya Khel’sinkskaya gruppa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Apple, M. W. (2000). Mathematics reform through conservative modernization? Standards, markets, and inequality in education. In J. Boaler (Ed.), Multiple perspectives on mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 243–259). Westport: Ablex.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belhoste, B., & Chatzis, K. (2007). From technical corps to technocratic power: French state engineers and their professional and cultural universe in the first half of the 19th century. History and Technology, 23(3), 209–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bunimovich, E. (2012). Deviatyi klass. Vtoraya shkola [Ninth grade. School no. 2]. Moscow: AST.

    Google Scholar 

  • Croom, L. (1997). Mathematics for all students: Access, excellence, and equity. In J. Trentacosta (Ed.), Multicultural and gender equity in the mathematics classroom. The gift of diversity (pp. 1–9). Reston: NCTM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damerow, P., et al. (1986). Introduction. In P. Damerow, et al. (Eds.), Mathematics for all. Problems of cultural selectivity and unequal distribution of mathematical education and future perspectives on mathematics teaching for the majority; Report and papers presented in the theme group I, ‘Mathematics for all’ at the 5th International Congress on Mathematical Education, Adelaide, 1984. Paris: UNESCO (Science and technology education; 20).

    Google Scholar 

  • Djilas, M. (1957). The new class: An analysis of the communist system. New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebanks, M. E., Toldson, I. A., Richards, S., & Lemmons, B. P. (2012). Project 2011 and the preparation of Black and Latino students for admission to the specialized high schools in New York city. The Journal of Negro Education, 81(3), 241–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fasheh, M. (1997). Is math in the classroom neutral – or dead? A view from Palestine. For the Learning of Mathematics, 17(2), 24–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fey, J. T., & Graeber, A. O. (2003). From the New Math to the Agenda for Action. In G. M. A. Stanic & J. Kilpatrick (Eds.), A history of school mathematics (pp. 521–558). Reston: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fordham, S., & Ogbu, J. (1986). Black students’ school success: Coping with the “burden of ‘acting white’”. Urban Review, 18, 176–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallagher, J. (2008). Policy and advocacy. In J. Plucker & C. Callahan (Eds.), Critical issues and practices in gifted education (pp. 513–522). Waco: Prufrock Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gervasoni, A., & Lindenskov, L. (2011). Students with “special rights” for mathematics education. In B. Atweh et al. (Eds.), Mapping equity and quality in mathematics education (pp. 307–323). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutstein, E. (2012). Mathematics as a weapon in the struggle. In O. Scovsmose & B. Greer (Eds.), Opening the cage: Critique and politics of mathematics education (pp. 23–48). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Halmos, M., & Varga, T. T. (1978). Change in mathematics education since the late 1950s—Ideas and realisation. Hungary. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 9(2), 225–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, J. (1997). Destroying excellence. The Dartmouth review, May 28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karp, A. (2009). Teaching the mathematically gifted: An attempt at a historical analysis. In R. Leikin, A. Berman, & B. Koichu (Eds.), Creativity in mathematics and the education of gifted students (pp. 11–30). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karp, A. (2010). Teachers of the mathematically gifted tell about themselves and their profession. Roeper Review, 32(4), 272–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karp, A. (2011a). Schools with an advanced course in mathematics and schools with an advanced course in the humanities. In A. Karp & B. Vogeli (Eds.), Russian mathematics education: Programs and practices (pp. 265–318). London: World Scientific.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Karp, A. (2011b). Toward a history of teaching the mathematically gifted: Three possible directions for research. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education, 11(1), 8–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karp, A. (2011c). Withering away by blossoming and blossoming by withering away: On the fate of schools with an advanced course of study in mathematics. In M. Avotina et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th international conference on creativity in mathematics education and the education of gifted students (pp. 102–105). Riga: University of Latvia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karp, A., & Lee, J. H. (2010). Contents or ideology? A case study of mathematical teaching in North Korea. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 30(1), 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kozol, J. (2005). The shame of the nation: The restoration of apartheid schooling in America. New York: Crown Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kukulin, I., & Maiofis, M. (2015). Matematicheskie shkoly v SSSR: Genezis institutsii i tipologiya utopii [Schools with an Advanced course of study in Mathematics in the USSR: The origin of the Institution and the Typology of Utopia]. In I. Kukulin, M. Maiofis, & P. Safronov (Eds.), Ostrova utopii: Pedagogicheskoe i sotsial’noe proektirovanie poslevoennoy shkoly (pp. 1940–1980). Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenin, V. I. (1905). Partiinaya organizatsiya i partiinaya literatura [Party organization and party literature]. Retrieved at May 1, 2015, from http://www.revolucia.ru/org_lit.htm.

  • Linchevski, L., Kutscher, B., & Oliver, A. (2011). Together-and-apart for quality and equity in mathematics education. In B. Atweh et al. (Eds.), Mapping equity and quality in mathematics education (pp. 509–519). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandelshtam, O. (1917). Dekabrist (Decembrist). In O. Mandelshtam (1990). Stikhotvoreniya. Perevody. Ocherki. Stat’i. Tbilisi: Merani.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, D. B. (2006). Mathematics learning and participation as racialized forms of experience: African American parents speak on the struggle for mathematics literacy. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 8(3), 197–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, R. (2002). Elite private high schools serve as ‘Feeder System’ into top colleges, magazine reports. Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug 26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niss, M. (2015). Interview. International Journal for the History of Mathematics Education, 10(1), 55–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Novikov, S.P. (1996). Matematika v Rossii bol’she, chem nauka, ili matematicheskoe obrazovanie v Rossii – est’li perspektivy? [Mathematics in Russia is more than a science, or is there a future for mathematics education in Russia?]. Znanie-sila, 5:29–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pakhomov, V. (2013). Internat [Boarding school]. Moscow: ZAO Vympel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rickey, V. F. (2001). The first century of mathematics at West Point. In A. Shell-Gellash (Ed.), History of undergraduate mathematics in America (pp. 25–46). West Point: The United States Military Academy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudensky, M., & Rudensky, S. (1976). Oni uchilis’ s Pushkinym [They studied with Pushkin]. Leningrad: Lenizdat.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schubring, G. (2012). From the few to the many: Historical perspectives on who should learn mathematics. In K. Bjarnadottir et al. (Eds.), “Dig where you stand” 2 (pp. 443–462). Lisbon: UIED.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sossinsky, A. (2010). Mathematicians and mathematics education: A tradition of involvement. In A. Karp & B. Vogeli (Eds.), Russian mathematics education: History and world significance (pp. 187–222). Hackensack: World Scientific.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Tannenbaum, A. J. (2000). A history of giftedness in school and society. In K. A. Heller, F. J. Mönks, & A. H. Passow (Eds.), International handbook of giftedness and talent (pp. 23–53). Amsterdam/Oxford: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyson, K., Darity, W., Jr., & Castellino, D. R. (2005). It’s not “a black thing”: Understanding the burden of acting white and other dilemmas of high achievement. American Sociological Review, 70(4), 582–605.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogeli, B. R. (1997). Special secondary schools for the mathematically and scientifically talented. An international panorama. New York: Teachers College Columbia University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, E. (2003). Who can do mathematics? In B. Vogeli & A. Karp (Eds.), Activating mathematical talent (pp. 15–27). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, E. (2012). Building mathematics learning communities: improving outcomes in urban high schools. New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, E. (2014). Beyond Banneker: Black mathematicians and the paths to excellence. New York: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express his gratitude to his colleague Erica N. Walker for very useful discussions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander Karp .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Karp, A. (2017). Mathematically Gifted Education: Some Political Questions. In: Leikin, R., Sriraman, B. (eds) Creativity and Giftedness. Advances in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38840-3_15

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38840-3_15

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-38838-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-38840-3

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics