DISCIPLINE, CONTROL, AND THE SCHOOL MATHEMATICS TRADITION

Classroom management and discipline are primary concerns of many teach ers, especially beginners. The current reform movement in mathematics education advocates a classroom atmosphere and teaching strategies tha t are substantially different than those that characterize the traditi onal approach to school mathematics. This paper considers the problems involving discipline and control that arose in the course of a beginn ing high school teacher's acculturation into the school mathematics tr adition. The analysis relates these discipline and control problems to certain tensions and contradictions in the school mathematics traditi on and suggests how efforts to cope with these problems serve to refle xively validate the tradition. In addition, the paper suggests some po ssible reasons for why discipline and control, and not pedagogical con tent knowledge, are primary concerns for many teachers. Finally, the p aper considers how the conditions that foster the emphasis on discipli ne and control in the school mathematics tradition stand as obstacles in the face of the current reform movement.