But the letter, published on the Internet and as a full-page advertisement in last Thursday's Washington Post, said these curricula lack mathematical substance and do not teach basic mathematics skills.

According to the report, the new curricula could cause American children to perform below their peers in other countries in mathematics. It also criticizes the DOE for not including "active research mathematicians" on the panel.

"I found [the programs] in some instance are absurd," Glashow said. They are ill thought-out proposals."

He added that the endorsed curricula focus too much on those students with little or no knowledge of mathematics.

The programs would hold back more advanced students and deny them the skills they would need at challenging universities like Harvard, he said.

Glashow fears that the new curricula would produce graduates unable to work in mathematically challenging fields, such as computer science, the high technology, medicine, or other sciences.

Leinwand said Glashow's criticism of the curricula is misplaced. The committee does not call for all students to follow one set curriculum, he said, and it certainly does not call for the end for honors classes for those students who are quite advanced in mathematics.