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Rev. Robert Thul, SJ

I have always loved teaching mathematics, right from first year regency forty six years ago down to the present time. The only thing is, teaching an abstract subject like that I have sometimes felt "side-lined" from the real action in my students' lives: They have been struggling with problems of drugs, alcohol, sex, self-image, suicide etc. while I have been worrying about simplifying fractions and the commutative law of addition. This has been a problem for me, a Jesuit priest, because, as much as I love math, I value the apostolate even more.

In recent times something has happened in math teaching that has eased this tension for me. Today there is a new-found awareness of the extent to which rich, real-world applications can motivate the learning of math and stimulate its deeper understanding. These applications can be taken from the fields of medicine and sociology just as readily as from the consumer world or the physical sciences. More and more, modern reality is quantified: you need mathematics to understand it. So a colleague and I have put together a couple of books of applications of high school math directed toward concrete issues in the students' lives. At the same time that they learn up-to-date mathematics, they get insights into some real life problems that may be troubling to them or their classmates. These problems often surface in written reports or classroom presentations, and the teacher is there to help.

I have attended many workshops and conferences on the teaching of high school math, and, admirable and zealous as the teachers are, I find precious few of them concerned about directing math toward making the world and the lives of the students better. Much more do I find them committed to the philosophy of a valueless education: they want the students to choose their own values, and they are careful not to let their teaching influence that choice. Jesuit education is just the opposite: it directs everything "ad majorem Dei gloriam." I feel that our books of applications can insert us more deeply into distinctively Jesuit education, and I am glad.

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