But he and others say that the fight is a formidable one. Former Education Minister Claude Allegre was lambasted for urging a lighter math program, and was recently forced to resign. Math associations strenuously oppose efforts to introduce statistics, interdisciplinary classes, or more open-ended problem solving. In the United States, the issue is nearly reversed. Many US teachers support teaching to all levels in a classroom, but are often not as well grounded as European or Asian counterparts in content.
Professionals complain new texts have errors.
For Silicon Valley professionals, the concern was that kids needed a more solid math content in their K-12 years to be on track for advanced math in college. By the mid-'90s, Palo Alto parents lobbied Sacramento for stronger math standards. Most critically, they moved their research and protest onto the Web. Finally, they won the option of traditional math classes. Math teaching is best understood as pendulum swings between professional mathematicians and math educators.