news and blogs

Following blogs has reminded me of following news. I read news and I get upset by them, then I wonder if it wouldn't be easier just not to pay attention. But of course, that would be an easy way out, and completely irresponsible. So I keep reading. I've been getting upset by a lot of blogs that I read. At first I was very excited by the numbers of math teachers who were writing and I started reading their blogs. A lot of them talked about very interesting topics within math and teaching and policy. But then I realized that for a fair number mathematics is a rather marginal interest. I've made some comments about mathematics that I've seen here and there, some people write it off to nit picking. Makes me sad. Then, of course, there are people who seem to think that mathematics classroom should be divorced from issues whose consequences students encounter every day, such as (in)equity, and social (in)justice, and poverty. Others may be well in tune with those, but forget that they are supposed to be teaching mathematics. So lately, I've removed a whole bunch of blogs form my bloglines to save me some time, energy and stress. I've come down to about 10. I wonder if this is as irresponsible as quitting the news. Maybe I should stick to reading them, so that I can get to know these people better, what they think and how they feel about various topics.