Reflection on Article - "Citizenship Education in the Context of School Mathematics"

I loved the opening of this article, that "mathematics education is crucial in the development of informed, active and critical citizens" and I strongly agree. So much in society is quantified and without a strong understanding of mathematics citizens will not fully understand their society. For instance, the government uses a lot of statistics to explain their ideas but without a mathematical education one may not question the data that was used to produce these statistics. If unable to ask such questions one is a mere spectator rather than a participator in the world.


I also agree with the point the article makes regarding making students active participators. If they are more involved in the classroom they are more equipped to be involved in society.  I believe it is our responsibility as teachers to create a flexible learning environment in which there is room for the students to express their creativity, to not only solve problems but to create them too. However I do draw the line at having the students judge the adequacy of their and their peers solutions. Of course their opinions should be heard but at this learning stage I feel it is important to always get feedback from the teacher, after all, if the students are posing the problems, solving them and assessing each other, what need is there for a teacher?