Numeracy.

Abstract

I Miteracy and innumeracy are social ills created in part by increased demand for words and num bers. As printing brought words to the masses and made literacy a prerequisite for productive life, so now computing has made numeracy an essential feature of today's society. But it is innumeracy, not numeracy, that dominates the headlines: ignorance of basic quantitative tools is endemic in American society and is approaching epidemic levels among many subcultures of the American mosaic. Innumeracy thus leads to in equity in opportunity and threatens to under mine America's capacity for productive work. Today's schools must accept the daunting chal lenge of achieving appropriate levels of numer acy for all students.