Development of Mathematics in Secondary Schools of the United States

Abstract

The early settlers of the American colonies were influenced by the educational principles and practices of the countries from which they had come, and these educational policies had, in turn, evolved under the influence of the Renaissance and Reformation. These two movements had co-operated in fostering a new liberal education which “implied the intellectual, moral, esthetic, and physical development of the individual for true fulfillment of complete life as a citizen.”1 This, under the influence of the times, meant a linguistic type of education, the language being Latin. The curricula of the schools were thus organized to conform to the objectives which this ideal fostered. Various formulations of these objectives may be found in the literature of the time.