Business leaders often stress specific skills important for the world of work. Although both government and employers frequently express the need for graduates who are better prepared for the world of work, the dominant influence on school mathematics remains the siren call of universities. Despite the obvious benefits of graphing calculators, we had to wait for the blessing of the University before we were able to fully utilize them in our classrooms. University faculty, especially mathematicians, often decry the open-ended problems that dominate emerging curricula, believing that this approach undermines the technical fluency crucial to success in later courses. Indeed, many colleges and universities continue to expect proficiency in traditional skills that are no longer emphasized in some school curricula.
Conflicting expectations are themselves an impediment to change.
We have others who say that we need to teach kids to be thinkers and problems solvers, to be motivated about mathematics. We can't expect teachers to sort all this out. Until we bring our different communities together, classroom teachers will not be able to meet the needs of kids in the classroom.