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Concepts of Modern Mathematics began as an extramural course
nowadays we would say 'continuing education—taught at Warwick
University in 1971. Several dozen citizens of Coventry, ranging
from school students to a retired automotive engineer, gathered for
two hours every week to grapple with what was then called 'Modern
Mathematics* in Britain and 'New Math* in the United States. What
was new about this particular style of mathematics was not its
content—most of it was at least a century old—but the fact that it
was being taught in schools. The abstract, general style of mathe
matical exposition favoured at research level by Nicolas Bourbaki—
a pseudonymous group of mostly French mathematicians—was
being transferred into the classroom.
This remarkable educational experiment remains controversial.
Many see it as an unmitigated disaster. My own view is that its
proponents confused logical issues about the nature of mathematics
with psychological issues about how it should best be taught. The
movement had some major advantages—for example it made a
serious attempt to bring school mathematics out of the dark ages—
and some serious flaws, such as the inclusion of abstract concepts
that had no contact with anything that might interest the average
school student. There was little communication between the
educationalists who favoured introducing the new syllabus and the
mathematicians who knew what the material in it was actually good
for, and this led to some strange decisions. |
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