Even though workforce projections show a 36% increase in the need for people with technical and scientific backgrounds in the next ten years, student interest in many of these fields is decreasing. (Hubbard 1995)

By 2030, the total elementary school-aged cohort of the United States will be about equally divided between non-Hispanic whites and all other racial/ethnic groups combined. As the work force expands, it will be increasingly minority and female, the very groups who are currently underrepresented in technical fields. (Fisher 1992, Day 1993)

Whereas we might wish to be able to treat all students, regardless of ethnic origins, the same, the reality is that we fail to provide them with the best education when we do that. For that reason, there is a real concern when teachers indicate that they make no distinction between their Hispanic American and Euro-American students. Perhaps, as has been suggested earlier, that is part of the problem . (Rakow and Bermudez 1993)

Without changing the substance of their courses, teachers can change elements of their style and of the atmosphere they set in the classroom, and trust that such changes will have a significant impact on students. (Brush 1980 pg. 105)

A Native Alaskan teacher speaking on what she learned in teacher education courses: "I only learned how to teach white kids. I didn't learn one thing about teaching Native kids. It is different, you know. But I don't think they even thought about that." (Delpit 1995 pg. 107)

Usually, we are supposed to learn it the way men see it. Men move quickly to impose their own conceptual schemes on the experiences of women. (Belenky et al 1986 pg. 202, Duras 1975 pg. 111)

Afro-American people tend to view things in their environment in entirety rather than in isolated parts. They tend to approximate concepts of space, number, and time rather than aiming at exactness or complete accuracy. (Shade 1982)

The workplace demands very different skills than the workplace of 1950 did. But if you look at our typical math or science or language arts curricula, they haven't changed that much since 1950. (O'Neil 1995)

The organization of science is becoming more flexible as the boundaries between fields become more permeable. As a result, employers place high value on engineers who can communicate, collaborate, and work across disciplines. (Griffiths 1995 pg. 29)