Just received an email with this link:  Engineering Emergency | Change the Equation.

I am curious where women fit into this equation…  Still, this is a concern for our American neighbours and, therefore, a concern for us.  Fairness is necessary for all and that should really include equal access to higher levels of mathematics and physics courses in high school.  What this page does not tell is whether high schools that did offer those courses were open and accessible for these students — oh, and what is the percentage of white student who attended high schools that did not offer these courses?

Okay, so I decided to download the brief (available on the web page linked above), and here’s what it says:  while 35% of black students attend high schools that do not offer those classes, 25% of white kids attend those same type of schools.  Same ballpark, but still significant.

More startling, at least to me, however, is that algebra is offered in 8th grade and only 35% of high-achieving black 5th-graders register while 63% of high-achieving white 5th-graders register.  I wonder what is happening to encourage some students and not others.  Is it the same phenomenon we see in the gender-balance question?