The New Math and Mid-Century American Politics

This event is part of the Philadelphia Area Seminar on History of Mathematics.

We begin with conversation and a light supper (donation $10.00). About 6:30-6:45 the talk will begin, when Professor Christopher J. Phillips of Carnegie Mellon University will speak on:

The New Math and Mid-Century American Politics

The new math changed the way Americans think about mathematics. The mathematicians and teachers who designed the new math—a novel curriculum lavishly supported by the National Science Foundation in the 1950s and 1960s—believed they were doing more than improving computational ability or producing more mathematicians. The new math embodied a plan to reform American society by revolutionizing the way schoolchildren learned to think. Forged in the crucible of Cold War fears of intellectual inadequacy, deployed in the heyday of the liberal Great Society, and criticized by ascendant conservatives in the 1970s, the new math was fundamentally political. Debates about the math curriculum were debates about how to shape American citizens.

 

Directions: Villanova University is located on Route 30, Lancaster Avenue, just east of I-476. If you drive to the meeting, enter Villanova by the main gate on Ithan Avenue. By order of the Parking Office all parking is now in the Saint Augustine Center lot, newly refurbished to a multistory structure. You will need to display a parking pass, which will follow in a later email. The Saint Augustine Center is attached to the lot, and Room 300 is on the third floor. You can get in touch with me (Alan Gluchoff) at 610-905-1376 if you need help.

 

Public Transportation: Take SEPTA’s Paoli-Thorndale train to the Villanova station. If outbound from center city go down through the tunnel to the inbound side. From the inbound platform go up the stairs and proceed to the left. The second building you encounter is the SAC; entry is through the parking lot or the front entrance.