Abstract
Calls for mathematics for all and the discourse of equity have become normative in the field of mathematics education. The 1988 publication of Reyes and Stanic’s Race, Sex, Socioeconomic Status, and Mathematicscould serve as a marker for this new emphasis. This essay reconsiders their model to orient research; it is the response of the silenced interviewer in conversation with the model’s authors. It is argued that the enforced passivity of mathematics educators has contributed to the twenty years of persistent iniquities in mathematics classrooms. While the model can still be of use within mathematics education, its users must consider its underexplored assumptions by answering why teach mathematics, questioning the demarcation of difference, and allowing for agency. Bringing equitable notions of these assumptions makes possible an approach to public education in which a mathematics education would emerge.
