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Jewish culture, Chinese culture, and mathematics education

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Abstract

In the past three decades, there has been increased attention on the influence of culture on the teaching and learning of mathematics. Jews and Chinese both have a long history and a rich cultural heritage, and the populations in both communities are known to place high emphasis on education. Has this emphasis anything to do with the cultural heritage in these communities? This paper offers some observations on the essential features of the two cultures. Despite the contrast between the religious roots of the Jewish culture and the secular Chinese culture, the two cultures share some commonalities, including the emphasis on the collective and the reliance on the family and the clan in passing on cultural practices and values. Characteristics in the two cultures that are related to mathematics education are then examined. These include the early development of mathematics in the two cultures, the different traditions of education and academic studies, the collective culture, and the strong involvement of the family in children’s education in the two communities. Implications for contemporary mathematics education in the two cultures and beyond, including what mathematics should children learn, what is the goal of mathematics education, and what role does the family play in students’ learning, are then discussed. The paper serves to highlight the role played by culture in the development of mathematics and mathematics education.

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Notes

  1. Genesis 18:19

  2. Ethnicity is problematic notion for both Chinese and Jews. There are different backgrounds within each group and different reasons for people to identify as Chinese or Jewish. This issue will be dealt with in the next sections.

  3. There are the orthodox, religious Jews, and secular Jews, but the root of the Jewish culture is religious, in contrast to the worldly root of the Chinese culture.

  4. Confucius made this famous statement when he was asked by his students about ghosts and spirits, as quoted in Xian Jin (先進), the Analects.

  5. Family education or exhortation (家教)

  6. Jacob had 12 sons, but two tribeships were given to Joseph’s two sons Ephraim and Manasseh (see Genesis 48:5, 22; 1 Chronicles 5:1-2; Deuteronomy 21:17; and Ezekiel 47:13), hence there were a total of 13 tribes.

  7. Genesis 14:14: “And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.” King James Version (KJV)

  8. 1 Kings 7: 23: “And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.” KJV

  9. 1 Kings 7: 26: “And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.” KJV

  10. Suan Shu Shu (算数书, compiled 202 BCE – 186 BCE); Zhoubi Suanjing (周髀算经, 10th Century BCE to late 2nd Century CE); and Jiuzhang Suanshu (The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, 九章算术, 10th Century BCE to 2nd Century CE).

  11. Gougu Theorem (勾股定理, in Zhoubi Suanjing, about 500 years before Pythagoras theorem); and Yang Hui Triangle (杨辉三角, 13th Century CE, about 500 years earlier than Pascal triangle).

  12. 天元 (variables)

  13. This is analogous to the advanced development in technology in ancient China versus the relative underdevelopment in science.

  14. Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections [數書九章] written by Qin Jiushao [秦九韶] in 1247

  15. Balance is also a traditional Chinese value (and a value in many cultures): Zhongrong gedou (and the Latin via media).

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  1. Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong

    Frederick K. S. Leung

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Leung, F.K.S. Jewish culture, Chinese culture, and mathematics education. Educ Stud Math 107, 405–423 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-021-10034-3

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