Math Skills- You will use them someday.

Two recent studies have confirmed what many Americans and especially American employers have known for quite awhile. U.S. students are failing math. An international study sponsored by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that 15-year-old American students performed below average among all 40 participating nations and ranked beneath most industrialized countries on math. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study placed U.S. fourth-grades 12th of 25 countries in math and eighth-graders 15th of 45 countries.

These days U.S. companies are taking the problem, and solution, into their own hands. Many companies find themselves spending more time and money on training programs to get workers up to speed on basic math skills. Carhartt, the outdoor clothing manufacturer, realized that employees at its Kentucky customer service facility had a hard time using some of the equipment because they had weak math and computer skills. So the company parked a mobile classroom at the plant and held classes after shifts ended.

So many companies are stepping up to this challenge that used to be exclusively addressed by the public-school systems that government firms, non-profits, and local start-ups specializing in funding and supporting these basic training endeavors are popping up all over the U.S.