Can we think of ourselves as a Democratic Political system compared to other democracies and other advanced wealthy democracies in the United States. To that extent can we think of ourselves as democratic and inclusive women have a low level of womens representation in the office and inner judiciary as well. Even within state legislatures where the numbers have stagnated. Thats a serious questions. Can we position ourselves as the nation, as a leader in terms of being democratic and inclusive and womens representation is so loved despite the participatory management and how does the mass politics level. The other thing i would want people to take away from the book is to think again about my minimum for diversity in terms of age, employment, social class and certainly in terms of great tennis this day. We are diverse as a large group of people. There are some strong shape preference is and participation. So that means it that means again that politically women, especially for u. S. Democratic purposes have to be taken very seriously. Not to and evening. Welcome to the National Museum of matt mannix in a very special event. I think we are all delighted that the museum is putting on this event tonight and even more delighted that they are doing up with the support of the Mathematical Association of america, which is helping out tonight and then purchase killer , james tanton tonight, who i will introduce in a minute. My name is john ewing, president of math for america and they may not petition. [applause] this was not meant to be an aa meeting by the way. Every professional mathematician knows that mathematicians and their subjects have a certain reputation. A world famous mathematician is walking in the countryside one day when it comes upon a huge flock of sheep and being a worldfamous mathematician goes to to the shepherd and makes a proposition. One hundred dollars against one of your sheep that i can tell you can me how many sheep are in the flock. The shepherd, knowing there were an awful lot of sheep says, okay, ill try it here the mathematician looks around and says 900 are decided she peered the shepherd says incredible. Thats absolutely incredible. The mathematician picks up an animal, throws it around her shoulders and begins to walk away. The shepherd runs after him. Wait, wait he says. Double or nothing i can tell you exactly what your profession and spirit the mathematician says this is unlikely so so sure, go ahead. The shepherd says you are worldfamous mathematician. Incredible. How could you possibly know. Well, since the shepherd, put down my dog and i will tell you. [laughter] this reputation is not new. In 19410, william d. Lewis, principal of William Penn High School in philadelphia but about democratizing education and be focused on High School Mathematics. My objection, he will come into the traditional requirements and mathematics is largely empirical. I have seen so many pupils driven out of school by work, which could not have any practical advantage to them and i have watched so many classes and guessing under the caption of algebra that i have come to believe that we have to discriminate as carefully as possible between those pupils who really need the advanced mathematics and those who will find other work more profitable. 1914. But that makes me teach in our schools, especially ours high schools has been debated for the past century, often with an eye towards democratization and opportunities for student spirit much longer than a century can you maybe be aware that arithmetic was not taught in Elementary School in the colonial. Spelling, reading and writing constituted the curriculum at that time. Arithmetic was known as folder. Arithmetic was needed and when it was needed, it was learned in the child. By the early 20th century, ill shred jimmy choo were part of the curriculum in nearly every high school in the country. The Graduation Rate in 1900 was a person. As Graduation Rates climbed over the coming decade, the most mathematics became a contentious issue almost everywhere. Mathematics was then as it continues to be now the most difficult of subjects for many students. The debate culminated at the end of the 20th century but very provocative and quite exceptional essays written by underwood dudley, a mathematics professor at Depaul University with the title is wide math is not my next necessary and what is mathematics for . To the dismay of many mathematicians, woody argued that there were many good reasons to teach mathematics, that utility wasnt one of them. Almost all jobs, he wrote, required no knowledge of algebra and geometry at all. He went on. For algebra necessary for 75 of all jobs, algebra textbooks with refilled with onthejob problems since examples would be so plentiful. This is clearly not the case. The math mystery by Andrew Hacker, which is the catalyst for todays discussion is in many ways the child of a century long debate as well as woody dudleys assays. Although, i will say, that the two authors reached very different conclusions. Is High School Mathematics serving society . What mathematics should be taught . How should it be taught and why should it be taught . These are hard questions and i believe that finding answers to hard questions as best in open and public discussion. That is why we are here tonight. Are two speakers this morning are Andrew Hacker and she tanton. It would be glad to know ive reached the point where i introduce them. Andrew hacker is a professor of Political Science at Queens College in the City University of new york, where in addition to teaching Political Science, he has taught an experimental course in mathematics literacy. He was an undergraduate at Amherst College and received his phd from princeton university. He taught at cornell from 1955 until the early night in seven days and since then has been on the faculty at Queens College. Hes the author of 10 books on a sample of the titles suggest their breach. Two nations, blackandwhite, separate, hostile and unequal. This match, the growing gulf between women and men, Higher Education how colleges are wasting our money and failing our kids and what we can do about it. In 19 in 2012, he published an oped in the New York Times entitled his algebra necessary, which led to his most recent book, mathematics and understand solutions, setting the stage for tonights discussion. Whether or not you agree with the substance of these folks, i am sure you will all agree that the titles are, every one of them, exceedingly clever. James tanton grew up in adelaide, australia. When he speaks tonight come you may detect he is not a native of new york. He received his undergraduate degree in mathematics and came to the u. S. In 1988, where he received his phd in mathematics, also from princeton university. After teaching at st. Marys college in maryland, and exceptional liberal arts college and my dad, he followed his wife to boston where he soon turned his attention to the general state of k12 mathematics. Eventually, he found himself at a private pool in southborough, st. Marks where he founded the saint marks institute of mathematics and then on to washington d. C. Where he served as the Mathematical Association of americas visiting mathematician and then theyre mathematician and residents. James consults for schools across the globe on the teaching of middleschool and High School Mathematics. Hes also the author of a number of books come to solve this, mathematics activities for students and clubs. Mathematics galore and also the author of two wordless puzzle books, without words and more without words, both of which i am told are being presently translated into serbia. I offered to complete the translation for them. James is also part of the global math project with the goal of initiating a fundamental change in the way we perceive and join mathematics. Tonights presentation will be divided into six segments. 215 minute presentations by each of our speakers to lay out the case. 28 minute responses from each and then questions and answers from the audience. The questions are from the audience and presumably the answers to the speaker, followed by a short time for people to come up and talk individually but the speakers tonight. My job tonight is to keep us on schedule and i will do so with ruthless resolve here. So i would like sasser hacker to begin tonights presentation. [applause] its a pleasure to be here. I may be the only nonmathematician in the house. But that is not a point. It is not my point to pitch out of business. At the very grand and glorious calling. There is a total, at last count, 217,584 teachers of math mannix in this country. A sturdy profession. I dont think it has anything to fear from me. Now, i am a political scientist. A cheap shot that political scientists is to analyze policy, particularly governmental policy and even more particularly, governmental policies, which we hire everyone to a certain thing. Very simply, to drive a car you have to pass a test. The government says so. If you have a child, the child has to be vaccinated. What interested me as a political scientist as an effective governmental policy that we have, which is that every single young person in this country will be required to take the full sequence of mathematics. Started like algebra, geometry, precalculus and for many the idea is to have everyone studying calculus. By simple reason for being here, simpler reason for writing might look can be summed up in one word. I understand ive got one of my own. [laughter] thank you. You may keep track of this kid we currently have another statistic. The goal is to have every single emerald and algebra ii. Score is for everybody everybody has to pass a common core tasks via algebra ii is going to be there. Well, we are at it past them. The math required to, the math hurdle takes a tremendous toll every year. We raised, in the United States come is very low on the developed countries, about 20 out of 28 in the number of our young people who finish high school. Yes, our high school is a a 20 . One out of every five young people you see has failed to finish high school. The major academic for a reason for that is failure of math class. Another reason this pregnancy. But the academic reason is we dont keep the exact figures on this, but showalter whose work you may know has included a majority of students eventually fail one or another of math course. Is this because they are or is it because they are asking something of every one that we really shouldnt be requiring universally. One out of five to graduate from high school. Of those who graduate from high school and go on to college, for being 3 do not graduate. This is one of the highest College Dropout rate in the advanced world. We have more politics for cap, that fewer people finishing college. Why . Pilot takes mindlessly require mathematics of everybody, even if you are going to major in poetry, modern dance, interior design, we still have to pass an algebra test to get on board. We have a fantastic policy. We are shooting ourselves in the foot. People who would be very skilled, talented, all sorts of people are not allowed to perceive. Somebody who wants an associates degree, certificate and cosmetology. Industrial design. Lets take martial arts. Even they have to pass the math test and as a result, our attrition rate is just savage. Something else, too. We hear reports saying 43 of people in the test are not College Ready. 43 for college tests. Im not College Ready. Because College Ready requires advanced mathematics for everybody and as a result some very Good Students who might be in my College Class wont be there because of this requirement. My book is called tree and six. For more and more i study what is happening, the more we discover that people who are entrenched in a certain profession, occupation, vocation will literally say anything to defend the status quo from which they benefit. This could be true of police officers. And i discovered so much of what we have been told about data sharing that. For example, 62 figure and something called the american diploma project came down and said within a decade from now, 62 of all occupations will need algebra. At most, 5 of occupation need algebra and i respect those. And the cost of writing my book ever to marietta, georgia over and are viewed era radical engineers and i was blown away by the way they use calculus to study the ice on wings. I sit in the andes. It go on. But you certainly need mathematics and wall street use calculus all the time to study risks, payoffs and the rest. Not 62 , which is the question and only occupational terms why the other 95. I dont want to get too much into the question of the stand story appeared beyond doubt that there is a shortage of people. In fact, people that have degrees, less than half, only slightly more than a third are working in s. T. E. M. Occupation. We have an oversupply of people but s. T. E. M. Qualifications. We are told we better watch out in the global competition because korea, china, singapore and hong kong are far ahead of us and not mannix. Ill say this to you. They score higher because they work 23 hours a day. The biggest illness among young people in korea are pediatricians, sleep deprivation. They work 23 hours a day if the International Competitions friendships are crossword puzzles, they would slow up there, too. We work 23 hours and i would advise that. There is a whole question of whether all these rates sharpens our mind. I agree that studying math and doing well at it sharpens your mind for dealing with mathematics. That is for sure. There is no evidence whatsoever that mastering mathematics makes you agile, adapt, excel and other fields. I did the shirt test of my own that Queens College. I took the math scores are incoming freshmen. Of the freshmen who took an introductory history course. The math scores. Versus the history scores. Theres the reasoning ability, guess what, the correlation was zero. To be high on math, bomb modern history, vice versa. Math does not help another field. Im not sure i want to call this a myth. There is the view, for example, a mathematician i really respect it. I keep his boat on my bedside is one of the best books ive read by showing a layperson with mathematics really is. He closes the book and he believes that mathematics is one of the greatest creations of the human mind, perhaps even the greatest. Well, i will go along with that. I simply ask, is mathematics something they created or is there something that we discovered . Could it be that mathematics is out there, created by nature where she created the calculus. Not to discover it. We have defined it. But what im saving this i would really love everybody to appreciate mathematics the business being done by making people year after year. I would love to have math teachers take out time and free of athletics into liberal arts so all of a sudden at the beauty of poetry map of mannix. Theres also the view that mathematics is subject to it, which is to say theres one right there. You dont have to worry about opinions, said activity. This may well be true. But theres Something Else going on. Mathematics has builtin biases of it down. Not so much the subject, but the way we access and value it. One thing we know, i have a chapter in the book of gender gaps in mathematics. Girls and young women actually kept higher grades in math courses than the guys do. We have enough studies across the board to show that. The girls get higher grades. But when it comes to the task, s. A. T. , psat and in times of a common core, and men are always ahead. I would really ask you as mathematicians to find some way of having tests that give girls and young women a chance to show what they really know. For the last halfcentury, girls have been 30 points behind boys on the sats. By the way, that has consequences. One consequence is the National Merit scholarships. The National Merit scholarships. You know what they are. Do not give a gender break down of their winners. They refuse to do it. They hide the information because 53 , im a numbers person. 53 of people who entered the pair competition are gross, but boys and getting 53 of theo ward. Why . Because they score 30 points higher than the gross to run these tests. The same thing is going to happen with common core. This is one reason why gross find it harder to get into Ivy League Schools because Ivy League Schools require before we have been on application. Both math and verbal a 700. Two thirds of the 700 above our boys. So as a result, stanford, yale, for example their maturity men because of the math barrier. Girls are doing okay in classes, but i need some advice. The country does, on how to give tests that they indicate the email. Bath of course we are told requires 30 seconds more. [laughter] i think my last comment here is do i propose to abolish algebra . No, of course not. But i do want to see other options and alternatives in that the full sequence where everybody in 10th grade we can work this out a comment begin to offer options. My teacher class at my college in the Math Department called deborah c. 101, which is about status and statistics. Not highpowered academics, it doesnt require any math. All it requires and i dont think we have to be ashamed of that at all. [applause] and now, james tanton. Thank you for this evening. This is a real honor in this conversation. Thank you is a really important conversation with national concern. We appreciate you bringing it into the world. His fatah reconsider our next generation. The expanded. Even further. Thank you for coming along toda