To characterize the actual political and social situation in mathematics education around the world, in particular in most of the rich countries, one could state that the commercial textbook ���business��� community controls the materials available to teachers to an extent that teachers are rather slaves of the textbook than autonomous and enlightened users; and that assessment still is primarily and predominantly a mechanism for selecting the mathematical elite only instead to provide a profound mathematics education to all. The few promising developments in mathematics education could be seen in the increasing availability of personal technology, in the growth of the vocational education sector, in the growth of the informal sector through web- access, and ��� my big hope ��� in the increasing professionalization of mathematics teacher associations in many countries and the growth of equal and fair collaborative research within the mathematics education community.