Since the publication in 1989 of the Curriculum
and Evaluation Standards by the National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], there has been a
steady increase in discussion and debate about reforming
mathematics education in the U.S., including
increased attention from university mathematicians
(cf. [Ho]). Many mathematicians who taketime to consider precollege
educationform an intuition that it would help the situation if teachers
knew more mathematics. If these mathematicians get more involved in mathematics education,
they are likely to be surprised by how little this intuition seems to affect the agenda in mathematics
education reform.