The ABC's of Base-10 Mathematics

Introduction:

A fierce war rages over control of your child's mathematical education. It is a cruel war, fought mostly on the sly, in which the only casualties are children. The war is between those who want your child to understand mathematics and those who just want her to learn it. (For convenience, I'm going to call "your child" Dana from now on).

The stakes, for Dana, are enormous. Leaving aside personal benefits, which are substantial, a good math education is a vital key to entry to a good, or even not so good, university. Once there, it is a key to enter into the school of her choice within that university. And a good education is the key to a comfortable and productive life. Income distribution now is based largely on the level and quality of education, with highly educated people moving swiftly into well paying jobs and becoming part of the "cognitive elite." Others toil for a pittance and suffer the bumps and jolts that come with life in the slow lane.