7/29/97
(version for Rocky; on-line version follows) 
  
Teaching is an art, not a science, and there's no one way to do it successfully. So Shahid Muhammad, who styles himself ``The Math Doctor,'' may achieve ``almost miraculous'' success in the classroom, as he says. But it doesn't follow that other teachers will benefit from his advice on how to do it. 
     His self-published book, How to Teach Math to Black Students, is a compendium of errors likely to do much more harm than good. 
     Muhammad predictably begins from the Afrocentric fallacy that everything worthwhile, including mathematics, was originally black. 
     Because Euclid, Pythagoras and Aristotle were inspired by Egyptian scholars and priests, he says, ``It is crucial that the teacher informs and illustrates to the students that the Egyptian people were Black just like them.'' 
     That's not true. But supposing that Muhammad believes it, so he is merely misleading his students rather than lying to them, it's still dangerous because it surrenders to the assumption that black children can learn only what they see other black people doing. 
     Black students do not perceive themselves as capable of mastering mathematics, Muhammad says, ``because they do not see Blacks in their math textbooks, nor do they see any Black mathematicians in their communities or on television.'' 
     Hey, nobody sees mathematicians, of any color, on television. Can you name one prominent 20th century mathematician? Einstein doesn't count, he was a physicist. The lack of color-coordinated role models doesn't hold anybody else back. Certainly not the children of southeast Asian refugees, who don't see themselves in textbooks either. Quite properly, they don't care. 
     I wonder, too, what Muhammad teaches the Hispanic children in his classes _ that Spanish was one of the languages on the Rosetta stone? 
     Muhammad's methods rely on individual, as well as group, narcissism. That's necessary, he says, because black students are preoccupied with themselves. 
     ``Mathematics is all over the human body,'' Muhammad says, and learning about the length and width of their intestines or the weight of their brains can help students see that ``learning mathematics means: `I am learning about myself.' '' 
      Black students are interested in sports, in music, in fashion, in video games, Muhammad says, and ``they have a short attention span when it comes to the normal expository type of learning.'' So he recommends using games and puzzles and math rap songs to get their attention. 
     ``Imagine the inspiration and enthusiasm students would have toward mathematics if they found out that Michael Jordan uses mathematics to shoot the ball and glide through the air.'' 
     Of course all teachers search for ways to make their lessons relevant to their students' lives, but at some point it becomes a confession of failure, not a recipe for success. 
     He invokes the educational straw teacher whose classroom is devoted to churning out mathematical robots whose only achievement is fast and accurate calculation, but the more serious problem in American classrooms is that so many teachers have abandoned any attempt at the development of basic skills in pursuit of critical thinking or higher-level reasoning. 
     Word problems are an essential part of mathematics, but it's far from clear that Muhammad's take on this intellectual genre will have beneficial effects. 
     The word problems in most major textbooks, Muhammad says, fail to motivate black students because they deal with ``the reality and lives of middle class white people.'' 
     So he develops his own, based on black reality. Here are his first two examples. 
      A customer in Proud to Be Black Men's Store buys a pair of $360 shoes at 25 percent off and a leather coat for $15 percent off. How much does he spend? 
      Rhonda owns a 100-acre farm. How long will it take to seed the farm if her new seeding machine seeds 33 acres in 14 hours? 
     Oh, that's really relevant to poor inner-city children. 
     I think teachers should look elsewhere for advice, but for those who want to learn more Muhammad will be in Denver next weekend. He will be the featured speaker at a seminar to benefit Muhammad Mosque No. 51, held from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Aug. 2 at the Cleo Parker Robinson Theatre. His book is available from Hue-Man Experience bookstore. 
 
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(longer version on line, sent to SHNS 6 p.m. thursday) 
 
For publication on or after July 27 
  
BOOK ON MATH TEACHING DOES A DISSERVICE TO BLACK CHILDREN 
By Linda Seebach 
  
Teaching is an art, not a science, and there's no one way to do it successfully. So Shahid Muhammad, who styles himself "The Math Doctor," may achieve "almost miraculous" success in the classroom, as he says. But it doesn't follow that other teachers will benefit from his advice on how to do it.  
     His self-published book, "How to Teach Math to Black Students," is a compendium of errors likely to do much more harm than good.  
     Muhammad predictably begins from the Afrocentric fallacy that everything worthwhile, including mathematics, was originally black.  
     Because Euclid, Pythagoras and Aristotle were inspired by Egyptian scholars and priests, he says, "It is crucial that the teacher informs and illustrates to the students that the Egyptian people were Black just like them." 
     The Egyptians weren't black, and teachers shouldn't teach falsehoods just to make their charges feel better about themselves. But allowing that Muhammad may believe his claim, so he is merely misleading his students rather than lying to them, it's still dangerous because it surrenders to the assumption that black children can learn only what they see other black people doing.  
     Black students do not perceive themselves as capable of mastering mathematics, Muhammad says, "because they do not see Blacks in their math textbooks, nor do they see any Black mathematicians in their communities or on television." 
     Hey, nobody sees mathematicians, of any color, on television. Can you name one prominent 20th century mathematician? Einstein doesn't count, he was a physicist. The lack of color-coordinated role models doesn't hold anybody else back. Certainly not the children of southeast Asian refugees, who don't see themselves in textbooks either. Quite properly, they don't care.  
     I wonder, too, what Muhammad teaches the Hispanic children in his classes -- that Spanish was one of the languages on the Rosetta stone?  
     Muhammad's methods rely on individual, as well as group, narcissism. That's necessary, he says, because black students are preoccupied with themselves. 
     "Mathematics is all over the human body," Muhammad says, so learning about the length and width of their intestines or the weight of their brains can help students see that "learning mathematics means: `I am learning about myself.' "  
      Black students are interested in sports, in music, in fashion, in video games, Muhammad says, and "they have a short attention span when it comes to the normal expository type of learning." So he recommends using games and puzzles and math rap songs to get their attention.  
     "Imagine the inspiration and enthusiasm students would have toward mathematics if they found out that Michael Jordan uses mathematics to shoot the ball and glide through the air."  
     Of course all teachers search for ways to make their lessons relevant to their students' lives, but at some point it becomes a confession of failure, not a recipe for success.  
     Muhammad reminds teachers what they're all taught anyway, to convey positive messages whenever they can. "Stay away from negative words," he advises, such as "You're just not cutout for this class." But he carries this generally sound advice to unwise extreme. Because letter and number grades can be degrading, depressive and destructive to "the delicate and fragile ego" of black students, he suggests the teachers give grades -- but not allow the children to see them. 
     To increase students' confidence, he says, "the idea is to randomly give students assignments that insure with minimum effort, that some form of success and achievement occurs."  
     He invokes the educational straw teacher whose classroom is devoted to churning out mathematical robots whose only achievement is fast and accurate calculation, but the more serious problem in American classrooms is that so many teachers have abandoned any attempt at the development of basic skills in pursuit of critical thinking or higher-level reasoning.  
     Word problems are an essential part of mathematics, but it's far from clear that Muhammad's take on this intellectual genre will have beneficial effects.  
     The word problems in most major textbooks, Muhammad says, fail to motivate black students because they deal with "the reality and lives of middle class white people." 
     So he develops his own, based on black reality. Here are his first two examples.  
     (bu) A customer in Proud to Be Black Men's Store buys a pair of $360 shoes at 25 percent off and a leather coat for $780 at 15 percent off. How much does he spend?  
     (bu) Rhonda owns a 100-acre farm. How long will it take to seed the farm if her new seeding machine seeds 33 acres in 14 hours?   
     Oh, that's (ital)really(ital) relevant to poor inner-city children.  
     The sad thing about all this is that there are demonstrated strategies to improve black children's performance in mathematics. For instance, their grammar is different from the grammar of mathematics texts in confusing ways. It's not an insurmountable obstacle, any more than it is for children who come to school speaking Chinese, but they have to be explicitly taught how to overcome it. 
     That would be a lot more practical -- and effective -- than telling them Egyption fairy tales. 
  
Linda Seebach, who formerly taught college mathematics, is an editorial writer at the Rocky Mountain News. She can be reached at 303-892-2519, or at seebach@denver-rmn.com by e-mail.