Commentary 2: The Need to Be Intentional in the Integration of Social Justice in Mathematics Content Courses: A Commentary on Felton-Koestler’s Case

Felton-Koestler presents a case that focuses on social justice and political issues in his mathematics for teachers course. The case on “illegal immigration” is familiar to me in a couple of ways. One way this case is familiar to me is based on my personal experiences. As a young child, I was born in Salineño, Texas and raised in Ciudad Miguel Alemán, Tamaulipas until the age of 8. These are two towns along the border of Texas and Mexico. At the age of 8, my parents obtained a visa, and we moved to California for one year. The fact that my parents obtained a visa, because my siblings and I were born in the United States, gives me privileges that others who cross the border undocumented do not have. My journey crossing to the United States was very different than students who face so many hardships, even death, crossing the border. However, I experienced people labeling me as “other” when my status as a learner became English as a second language (ESL); I was also viewed as different because I had an accent and was raised in a low-income family. This ESL label followed me until the ninth grade, when a White English teacher advocated for my placement to be changed to college preparatory coursework (see Celedón-Pattichis & Ramirez, 2012). My family settled in Rio Grande City, Texas, another border town, in the mid-1970s. I graduated from high school, prepared for secondary mathematics education at the University of Texas–Austin, and returned to the same high school to teach mathematics where many students crossed the border from Camargo, Tamaulipas to attend school.