Editing Ethnomathematics (section)

== Criticism ==
Some critics claim that [[mathematics education]] unduly emphasizes ethnomathematics in order to promote [[multiculturalism]] while spending too little time on core mathematical content, and that this often results in [[pseudoscience]] being taught. [[Richard Askey]] examined<ref>Richard Askey: [http://library.msri.org/books/Book36/files/askey.pdf ''The Third Mathematics Education Revolution''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806025151/http://library.msri.org/books/Book36/files/askey.pdf |date=2016-08-06 }}, published in ''Contemporary Issues in Mathematics Education'' (Press Syndicate, Cambridge, UK, 1999)</ref> ''Focus on Algebra'' (an [[Addison-Wesley]] textbook criticized in an op-ed by Marianne M. Jennings<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jennings |first=Marianne M. |title='Rain Forest' Algebra Course Teaches Everything but Algebra |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1996/0402/02182.html |access-date=2024-03-27 |work=Christian Science Monitor |issn=0882-7729}}</ref>) and among other shortcomings found it guilty of repeating debunked claims about [[Dogon_people#Astronomical_beliefs|Dogon astronomy]].

More recently, curriculum changes proposed by the Seattle school district drew criticism to ethnomathematics. Some people judged the proposed changes, which involved a framework for blending math and [[ethnic studies]], for incorporating questions like "How important is it to be right?" and "Who gets to say if an answer is right?"<ref>{{Cite news|last=Gewertz|first=Catherine|date=2019-10-23|title=Seattle Schools Lead Controversial Push to 'Rehumanize' Math - Education Week|work=Education Week|url=https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/10/11/seattle-schools-lead-controversial-push-to-rehumanize.html|access-date=2020-07-31}}</ref>