As someone interested in math and on his way into public education as a teacher, I wonder just how big of an issue this really is. The fact that there are not many of us represented in the mathematics world with respect to academia is not a very big concern to me. One does not need to be educated to the PhD level in mathematics to be able to use it in their professional lives and influence other underrepresented minorities.
The reality is, most of us that are mathematically inclined, lack the resources or interest to even step foot in the shrinking world of PhD level research and tenured track positions. (After all it took Dr. Goins himself two decades to work up the traditional pipeline to achieve one!)
More universities than ever contract out their professors to shave labor costs (public, private, non-profit, and ESPECIALLY for-profit), so many of the teaching positions available at the entry and mid tier levels are for adjunct professors, which are basically paid and treated like glorified grad students. Most of us would end up as those adjunct professors teaching other poor graduate students math, just to get a shot at a potential tenured position, while playing the research game on the side. In my view, this is neither a sufficient way to spend limited financial/time resources or the best way to entice more of us to take up mathematics professionally.
Right now, I am in the process of falling in love with math all over again as I prepare to become a high school math teacher, but I’m unsure if that’s where I want to remain in the long run. I would love to hear from Dr. Goins or any other professional mathematicians about ways that I can take my strong interest in math and apply it to solving real world problems. Anything but academia. The thought of “putting in my time” just to hope that I can get a tenured position in a few decades after someone dies is not on my list of things to do in my lifetime. I’ve already done enough of that in the military.
Ultimately, we need more academic types in mathematics to show us what we can do with this beautiful manmade creation to help deepen our understanding of our world while being able to make a decent living for ourselves and our families. Maybe then, we would see more underrepresented minorities show more interest in mathematics. Not just so that they can become a PhD at prestigious university, but also so they can share their knowledge and passion for this field that was once regarded as “dark magic”, within other professional capacities. That may be asking too much, but a brotha can dream right?
