Maths is a mandatory part of the curriculum in the UK and I'm sure in the US and in many countries. Famously, we are not very good at it as a country. Teenagers

Maths is a mandatory part of the curriculum in the UK and I'm sure in the US and in many countries. Famously, we are not very good at it as a country. Teenagers are asking for 'real world' maths more, they don't like the abstract nature of mathematics as found in standard syllabi. How about incorporating mathematical modelling as part of school maths? Using Excel/Calc or a programming environment such as Scratch? http://scratch.mit.edu/ http://scratch.mit.edu/ Any mileage? The history of school maths by the way is pretty political: no stats before about 1950 in the UK, and then only for the top 10%. Arithmetic for the workers.