Abstract
In this paper, I discuss how "career education" in the 1970's affected the "general mathematics" programs in the United States. Although "career education" was thought of as a program for low ability students in the beginning of the 1970's, it began to be placed in "application", which is regarded as the content of mathematics education in general. On the other hand, there was another aspect such as "business mathematics", which was directly related to careers: however, in this paper I discuss the "general mathematics" programs to get some viewpoints for constructing the mathematics curriculum. There are five points to the teaching materials and their positions concerning careers in "general mathematics". The first is to emphasize the role of careers to get the meaning of learning mathematics. The second is to motivate students to learn mathematics with career-based materials. The third is to emphasize the application of mathematics as a part of learning contents. The fourth is to integrate various mathematical ideas on career situations. The fifth is to develop the thinking abilities such as problem solving abilities learned through career-related mathematics.
