ABSTRACT
The examination of the quantitative proficiency of minority students provides a window on the difficulties many young people have with the way mathematics is currently taught in the schools. In truth, it provides a more drastic picture of those aspects of mathematics which Underhill (1985) clearly describes as evidence that “we are teaching many mathematical concepts and skills that many learners cannot grasp and some major ones that most of the learners in many classrooms cannot understand” (p. 2). The Carnegie Forum’s report (1986) on the condition of American education strongly states that “it would be fatal to assume that America can succeed if only a portion of our school children succeed.”
