For decades, mathematics has been used as the great sorter and selector, as the critical filter for high paying careers. Mathematics enables children to know that they are right without depending on adult authority. No other subject confers so much power on children. Unfolding the intrinsic power of mathematics was the secret of Pat's success at Roosevelt. Students in ethnically diverse classes, in confronting a challenging curriculum, can see that mathematics can be approached in many different ways and that everyone struggles with tough problems.
Experience can change beliefs.
Skeptics can become believers. Some schools even in areas of poverty perform well above average. Because most people don't really believe that it is possible for all students to learn algebra and geometry. Susan L. Forman is Professor of Mathematics at Bronx Community College of the City University of New York. Lynn Arthur Steen is Professor of Mathematics at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.