Modern Mathematics/New Math: From Its Heights in the 1960s to Its Fall in the Early 1970s

Abstract

After the Royaumont Seminar in 1959, modern mathematics/New Math conquered the whole world. However, its introduction during the 1960s varied among countries, determined in part by local history, culture and traditions, educational systems, and the influence of national reformers. We discuss exemplarily how modern mathematics was implemented in a number of countries or parts of the world. From the early 1970s, the decline was initiated. Criticism sounded louder and louder; in some countries it even led to a real Math War. In most countries, modern mathematics/New Math did not survive the 1970s and the retrospective assessment was typically (very) negative; Time Magazine included New Math in a list of the 100 worst ideas of the century. However, from its ashes arose substantial international cooperation in the field of mathematics education, and this field gradually acquired the status of an autonomous scientific discipline.