Everybody Counts A Report to the Nation on the Future of Mathematics Education (1989) / Chapter Skim
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OPPORTUNITY
OPPORTUNITY
Pages 1-16
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AS technology has ~rIlathematlcized'' the workplace and as mathematics has permeated society, a complacent America has tolerated underachievement as the norm for mathematics education. We have inherited a mathematics curriculum conforming to the past, blind to the future, and bound by a tradition of minimum expectations.
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As competitors get smarter, our problems get harder. Long-term investment in science and technology both for businesses and for our nation requires serious commitment to revitalizing mathematics education.
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Moreover, mathematics contributes to literacy certain distinctive habits of mind that are of increasing importance to an informed citizenry in a technological age. Because of the fundamental importance of literacy and numerary, English and mathematics are the only subjects taught continuously throughout the school years.
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The mathematical sciences of today blend deep new results from these traditional areas with methods from such applied fields as statistics, operations research, and computer science. Modern mathematics provides a powerful instrument for understanding the world in which we live.
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From clinical research to market surveys, from enhancement of digital photographs to stock market models, statistical methods permeate policy analysis in every area of human affairs. Challenging problems in such diverse fields as computer science and social science have invigorated the discipline of discrete mathematics, a field that reflects both computer logic and human ambivalence.
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From page 6... ...
6 among different specialties reveal deep connections and hidden unity, strongly suggesting that the different mathematical sciences are merely facets of a single science of patterns. A Pump, Nof a Filter The revolution in the way that mathematics is practiced is mirrored by a similar but unfulfilled-revolution in our understanding of how students actually learn mathematics.
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It is vitally important for society that ad citizens benefit equally from high-quality mathematics education. Numeracy To function in today's society, mathematical literacywhat the British call "numerary"- is as essential as verbal literacy.
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Functional literacy in all of its manifestations verbal, mathematical, scientific, and cultural provides a common fabric of communication indispensable for modern civilized society. Mathematical literacy is especially crucial because mathematics is the language of science and technology.
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Secondary education is particularly devoid of exposure to modes of mathematical thought required for intelligent citizenship. Even colleges and universities seem unable to infuse appropriate mathematical ideas into liberal education.
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For most members of the public, their lasting memories of school mathematics are unpleasant since so often the last mathematics course they took convinced them to take no more. Some adults blame the "new math" for their fears, having become convinced of their own mathematical ineptitude by instruction steeped in premature abstraction.
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From page 11... ...
"Hard work pays oh' should be society's message to those who study mathematics. Goals Historically, schools in the United States were designed with a dual mission: to teach all students basic skills required for a lifetime of work in an industrial and agricultural economy and to educate thoroughly a small elite who would go to college en route to professional careers.
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From page 12... ...
The facility with mathematics formerly required only of those preparing for scientific careers is now an essential ingredient in the foundation for lifelong work in the information age. In tomorrow's world, the best opportunities for jobs and advancement will go to those prepared to cope confidently with quantitative, scientific, and technological issues.
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From page 13... ...
Requirements designed to ensure that all students reach certain minimum levels often yield results in which most students reach only the minimum level because rarely are schools given the resources necessary both to achieve minimum standards for all and to provide unlimited accomplishment for most. Despite massive effort, relatively little is accomplished by remediation programs.
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From page 14... ...
We are at risk of becoming a divided nation in which knowledge of mathematics supports a productive, technologically powerful elite while a dependent, semiliterate majority, disproportionately Hispanic and Black, find economic and political power beyond reach. Unless corrected, innumeracy and illiteracy will drive America apart.
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