In this morning's Wall Street Journal, Diane Ravitch has an editorial on "Ethnomathematics". I don't have access to the WSJ Online, so I can't include this short editorial, but you can get the gist of "ethnomathematics" from this website: http://www.science.org.au/nova/073/073key.htm "The term ‘ethnomathematics’ was first used in the late 1960s by a Brazilian mathematician, Ubiratan D’Ambrosio, to describe the mathematical practices of identifiable cultural groups. Some see it as the study of mathematics in different cultures, others as a way of making mathematics more relevant to different cultural or ethnic groups, yet others as a way of understanding the differences between cultures. But perhaps the most powerful claim for the new discipline has been made by D’Ambrosio himself (quoted in The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 October 2000):" "Mathematics is absolutely integrated with Western civilization, which conquered and dominated the entire world. The only possibility of building up a planetary civilization depends on restoring the dignity of the losers and, together, winners and losers, moving into the new. [Ethnomathematics, then, is] a step towards peace." "This makes ethnomathematics a rather unusual discipline, because it attempts to meld science and social justice. This isn't something that sits comfortably with many scientists: science, they argue, is science, and trying to make it politically correct will only impede its progress. Some educators fret that teaching mathematics using an ethnomathematical approach reduces it to a social-studies subject that teaches students little about ‘real’ mathematics. Others simply ridicule the whole notion: according to one disparaging journalist, 'Unless you wish to balance your checkbook the ancient Navajo way, it’s probably safe to ignore the whole thing'." "But there are also many scientists, educators and commentators who see ethnomathematics – in all its definitions – as a legitimate discipline with plenty to offer the modern world." .. ----------------- The problem isn't in the study of cultural differences in the approach to math, it is in the growing requirement to _teach_ math in a multicultural way. Quoting from Ravitch: "Teachers are supposed to vary the teaching of mathematics in relation to their students' race, gender, ethnicity, and community". While it is always nice to try to provide motivation when teaching, I find it pretty difficult to understand how race enters into the teaching of group theory or complex analysis. Given the limited amount of time that students get for math in the first place, it seems a shame to dilute it with other agendas.