A quarter century of US ‘math wars’ and political partisanship

Abstract

This article traces the history of the US ‘math wars’ from 1980, and discusses the political polarizations that fuelled and resulted from the disagreements.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Elizabeth Carson, Harry Hellenbrand, Ralph Raimi, Mary Rosen, and Sandra Stotsky for critical readings and suggestions.

Notes

¹See Hirsch 2001.

²For the sake of transparency, I identify myself as a socialist and a registered member of the Green Party.

³Constructivism in this context is a variant of progressivism. See Hirsch 1996, 245.

⁴ A nation at risk, another important document from this period, is discussed in Klein 2003.

⁵A group of parents of school children in Princeton, New Jersey, including Princeton University faculty, in 1991 objected to progressivist programs and eventually founded their own Charter school. See Klein 2003.

⁶Two of the most important were ‘Mathematically Correct’ (www.mathematicallycorrect.com) and ‘New York City HOLD’ (www.nychold.com).

⁷I was a co-author of that letter. It is posted at: mathematicallycorrect.com/nation.htm

⁸For a rebuttal, see www.mathematicallycorrect.com/rebutlott.htm