Young's Vision

Abstract

The boxed paragraph's objective can also be considered one of the fundamental concepts found in NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, published in 1989. Making the underlying assumption that a metamorphosis was drastically needed in our nation's mathematics curriculum, the standards document thoroughly examined and analyzed all aspects of the current methods by which mathematics is presented at all grade levels (K–12), as well as what is considered to be essential material that must be presented to students. (For an overview of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards, see Thompson and Rathmell [1988].) However, the succinct statement below is not the product of the NCTM's standards; rather it is the wisdom of Jacob William Albe1t Young (1865–1948), a tum-of-thecentury pioneer in the field of educational pedagogy. (J. W. A. Young is not to be confused with John Wesley Young, 1879–1932, a professor of mathematics at Dartmouth College during the same era.)