Schools have policies on all sorts of things, including
mathematics. A school in England may well use this extract from the NationalCurriculum to outline the purpose of studying mathematics:
Mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
But what about a Church of England school? Does studying
mathematics in a Christian community look different? Vern Poythress with doctorates in Mathematics and New Testament would suggest
so. The following is a proposed alternative, inspired by his blog post:
Mathematics involves (a) the world around us, (b) our minds, and (c) the general truths of mathematics. Mathematics works because these three realms are in harmony and they are in harmony because they all come from God. God specified the world by speaking it into existence. He specified our minds by making us in his image, so that we can imitate his own mind. He specified the truths of mathematics, because he himself is the truth. In learning mathematics we enjoy God’s glory and wisdom.
Mathematics is possible only because there is both unity and plurality. Mathematics is possible because God is God―one in three. We want our children to experience awe and wonder as they observe that mathematics makes sense and is reliable, to recognise that we depend on mathematics all the time and so to learn about the humility and joy of submission to truth. We want our children to delight in understanding the world through mathematics and get excited about how mathematics helps us find answers to problems.
