The Influence of the University on School Geometry

Abstract

In opening this discussion on the influence of the university on the school course in geometry I have two dangers to avoid. Many of the things which it would seem natural to say are true and a few of them may be important, but when I wrote them down and took a second look at them, I saw that they were not concerned in any specific way with geometry; we sometimes forget that there is a Section of the British Association which exists to rescue the rest of us from the generalities and platitudes to which teachers are only too prone. The other danger is of entering so far into particulars as to compose a syllabus round which we might be expected to quarrel instead of talking about principles on which we can hope to agree; here I am fortunate in the subjects chosen by the speakers who are to follow me, for where what I have to say is most in need of illustration, their expositions will provide you with examples worked out at the appropriate length.