''Why Johnny Can't Add: The Failure of the New Math'' is a 1973 book by
Morris Kline
Morris Kline (May 1, 1908 – June 10, 1992) was a professor of mathematics, a writer on the history, philosophy, and teaching of mathematics, and also a popularizer of mathematical subjects.
Education and career
Kline was born to a Jewish fam ...
, in which the author severely criticized the teaching practices characteristic of the "
New Math
New Mathematics or New Math was a dramatic but temporary change in the mathematics education, way mathematics was taught in American grade schools, and to a lesser extent in European countries and elsewhere, during the 1950s1970s. Curriculum top ...
" fashion for school teaching, which were based on
Bourbaki Bourbaki(s) may refer to :
Persons and science
* Charles-Denis Bourbaki (1816–1897), French general, son of Constantin Denis Bourbaki
* Colonel Constantin Denis Bourbaki (1787–1827), officer in the Greek War of Independence and serving in th ...
's approach to mathematical research, and were being pushed into schools in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
. Reactions were immediate, and the book became a best seller in its genre and was translated into many languages.
[Fey, James T.. 1978. “U.S.A.”. Educational Studies in Mathematics 9 (3). Springer: 339–353. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3481942.]
References
Further reading
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External links
Text on-line, with permission of the current copyright holders
Books about mathematics education
1973 non-fiction books
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