Equity and Access: Questions and Issues

Historically, educational institutions have established special "affirmative action" programs to promote diversity for many different reasons, including:

• Restitution--to remedy past wrongs;
  
• Enrichment--to enhance the educational environment;
  
• Fairness--to assure equitable opportunities;
  
• Empowerment--to achieve equitable outcomes;
  
• Civic--to prepare a multi-cultural society;
  
• Professional--to strengthen teaching and the professions.
  

Questions for Mathematics Education:

• What is the rationale for special efforts to achieve diversity in mathematics education?

• Is there any difference in the way mathematics is learned or taught in a class that is ethnically and culturally diverse from one that is not?

• Do students from different ethnic backgrounds bring anything distinctive to the study of mathematics?

• Is mathematics really as objective and culture-neutral as people believe?

• Are there lessons that schools can learn from the experience of universities in increasing minority persistence in mathematics, science, and engineering?

• What can schools do to help business better meet its need for a diverse work force?

Question for State and Local Policy:

• Does equity require equality of opportunity or equality of outcomes? Is equality of access sufficient?

• What have we learned from two decades of effort to achieve equity for minorities in mathematical and scientific fields?

• What are the implications for access and equity of the rapid erosion of support (both public and legal) for affirmative action?

• What are the implications of the devolution of authority for educational access and equity from federal to state to local agencies?