Why is Mathematical Literacy Important?

Mathematical Literacy is important because math is everywhere.  As adults, we use math every single day whether we realize it or not.  The next time you drive in your car, try to count the amount of times you use math on your way from one place to the next.  In order to change the radio station or search through your current CD playing, you need to know the concept of more or less.  In order to stop safely behind the car in front of you, you need to know how fast you are going, how far you have left to stop, and the amount of pressure to use on your brake peddle.  Without this knowledge, you would wind up in more accidents than Evil Kenevil.  As a student, mathematical literacy is very important.  Mathematical literacy is the ability to read, write, use, and speak language; the language of mathematics. 

Our ultimate goal as educators is to teach our students to become independent thinkers and positive contributors in their communities.  Before our students enter the classroom, they may view the subject of mathematics as a useful tool to understand the world around them.  However, when our students enter our mathematics classrooms, the focus is on memorizing facts, formulas, and rules.  Our job is to divert that focus so that school math and real-word math do not become disconnected.  Students need to understand that mathematics is a sense-making experience.  I know whenever I teach mathematics, I try to explain why something makes sense so that the students can see the connection or recognize the patterns.  If we are constantly preoccupied with such low-level computation skills like defining, memorizing, recalling, repeating , and explaining, math cannot be used as the tool that we use to interpret and understand our world.  We never want any of our students to simply memorize something for the sake of passing the exam in order to move on the next thing, especially in mathematics.