Reality Check (NCTM 2026)
“When I married my Indian husband, I learned to cook rice in a fool-proof way that I had never learned of before,” said the conference speaker. “I learned to use the knuckles on my fingers to measure. When I dip my finger into the rice, if it reachers my first knuckle, then the amount of water I use must reach my second knuckle.” She giggled and endearingly looked over to her husband in the audience. “I have never cooked rice another way in my life.”
As a math lover and a math teacher, this was the first time in my 31 and a half years of living that I had ever seen my culture reflected in an explanation of mathematics. Despite the Asian stereotype of being '“good” at STEM fields, my culture was never represented in instruction. Although that one speaker tied in South Asian culture to explore rational numbers, that is a stark contrast from norm I experienced at the Spring NCTM (National Council of Teaching Mathematics) conference in New Orleans this year that I attended with my friend and colleague. “This white lady keeps eyeing me,” she texted. And I completely understood what she was implying without requiring any context.
Coming from Prince George’s County, where minorities are the majority in classrooms and leadership, this was a rude awakening to the norm in the rest of the country. A little pride would twinkle in my eyes when we spoke to other black and brown folks about where we taught and they all knew of PG County. “Yes, the most affluent black county in the country” they would say. However, we were met with awkward stares and a feeling of unbelonging from most other people. Colorado. California. Alabama. South Carolina. Georgia. Sure, someone could argue that this is a misconception from our perspective. But you could equally argue the other side. Well—let me speak for myself—I definitely did not feel like I belonged. I don’t think I met another Muslim teacher my entire time here; granted the conference was held during the last few days of Ramadan. How inclusive!
During intimate sessions I made sure to speak first and take the lead on activities. I’m sorry…no one can compete with my handwriting and visual organizational skills…but I’m glad I know that about myself. If I were not confident in these skills would I speak at all? Because I definitely experienced imposter syndrome during my time here. If my father didn’t tell me that succeeding in math was “in my blood” would I have given up? Would I cower into my elementary school self who felt unrepresented and small in her classes, and stopped participating? Would I try to make myself as invisible as possible because I did not think I was allowed to be seen?
As the country finds ways to move our mathematics performance forward, I met tons of AI powered companies and instructors with pedagogical changes in mind. But at the end of the day, we are teaching humans. We are teaching little humans with culture and independent minds and unique identities. How many sessions here took that into consideration? As we explore the conference theme of building joy for mathematics, how many sessions are explicitly naming the issues in the racist system we try to teach in? How many sessions consider the communities that are marginalized? How much do our speakers reflect the identities of all teachers nationwide? How much of our eurocentric curriculum is rooted in the “foreign” origins of mathematics where linear algebra was present in indigenous beading or base 10 counting was present in ancient Indian and Egyptian empires? How much of my students see themselves in the curricula that are edited year after year but explicitly ignore their cultural history?
I’ve learned a lot at this conference—I don’t want to take away from that. There are curricula and books and programs and software that will make me infinitely more effective as a mathematics teacher. However, that is limited to the parameters of the system that exists; a system that does not consider black and brown and indigenous children into its structure. I’m not sure where that leads me from here. I’m not sure where to turn or what to do or where to go with this reinforced idea that was already in my mind. However, I know that I need to stop being comfortable, or I will never contribute to black and indigenous liberation.
