Social inequality, cultural discontinuity, and equity in school mathematics

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Abstract
In order to achieve equity in school mathematics, mathematics educators must question their assumptions about its nature and worth. Culture practice theory, based on the idea that knowledge is situated within particular contexts, explains the difficulty particular groups have with school mathematics as the result of a discontinuity between schooling and other cultural contexts in their lives. Critical theory, based on the idea that political and economic power are unequally and unjustly distributed in society, describes the school curriculum as a result of a selective tradition that provides the greatest benefits to powerful social groups. Missing from culture‐practice theory is an analysis of the relationship between cultural discontinuity and social inequality; missing from critical theory is an analysis of the privileged position of mathematics in the school curriculum. Taken together, culture practice theory and critical theory provide the foundation of a reform and research agenda for equity in school mathematics.