 Critics also sometimes cite the fact that history of mathematics often focuses on European advancements and methods developed by men, thus ignoring equity issues and potentially alienating minorities and women.The general consensus of large-scale studies that compare traditional mathematics with reform mathematics is that students in both curricula learn basic skills to about the same level as measured by traditional standardized tests, but the reform mathematics students do better on tasks requiring conceptual understanding and problem solving.Critics of traditional methods note that only a small percentage of students achieve the highest levels of mathematics achievement such as calculus.