He writes a blog about math jokes. You’ve got to see this… (Week 6)

Okay, okay, I couldn’t help it with that title. 🙂 Welcome to your weekly does of Math Motivation Monday!

Or, Math-i-vation Monday! (Thanks Hakan!)

I have a reputation as a math guy. I know… hard to believe. Among other things, this means that people love to share math jokes and tag me in them. I usually get a couple each week. I love it! Can a share a couple with you?

This delicious one showed up on my feed the other day. Perfect for teaching a conceptual understanding (and for the holiday season!).

This next one came through as well. I would have the students analyze it to talk about what was right and wrong about this reasoning (remember, we can celebrate mistakes and use them to get better!).

This next one is cute and can be used to teach order of operations and about politeness (who knew that math was so chivalrous!).

Here is my favorite:

No, but it was the right joke. I’m not trying to be obtuse about it either.

Go ahead and google “math memes” or “math jokes”… there are a million of them. I have noticed something though… Some of the jokes use math to be funny; while others make fun of math. They contribute to the cultural problem we have were it is socially acceptable and even cool to not be good at math or like it. Unfortunately, the inappropriate ones are the ones that circulate the most.

For example, this one uses math to be clever:

But this version adds a negative connotation, making fun of those that understand it:

Here is another sad one:

Of course, it spread like wildfire. Someone slapped some words on a picture, and it perpetuates something that is completely untrue. Math is not a scapegoat!

This next one drives me crazy. I am working on a meme to combat it (that’s a little teaser to keep you coming back!).

But… here is one of the worst examples:

Ouch. Just ouch.

It gets more ironic. I was giving a presentation this weekend, and one teacher told me that her daughter was on a school math team, and they used this picture on their shirts.

See, that’s exactly what I am talking about. It might be funny, and in this case created a sense of belonging to those on the inside. But it created a bigger sense of exclusion for those on the outside. Only the elite few can be good at math, and those people are obviously nerds. And what does it matter, since math isn’t important anyway?

What do you think? Am I reading too much into things? Or am I right on? Do these pictures influence opinions when they spread around?

If our goal is #ChangingMathAttitudes, we have to be careful about promoting the appropriate math humor. The other stuff might be funny, but it sends the wrong message. Help me stop the spread of negative stereotypes!

~~~Remember, math skills won’t improve until math attitudes do!~~~

We can make a difference. We have to make a difference. It might be in our family, it might be in our students, it might be in our community, and it might even be in ourselves.

Here’s to our efforts!

Cheers,

Adam

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