U.S. BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETIN, 1917, No. 27 THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS FOR THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF THE By RAYMOND CLARE ARCHIBALD ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS IN BROWN UNIVERSITY During the deliberations of the International Congress of Mathematicians at Rome in 1908 steps were taken to organize an International Commission on the Teaching of Mathematics, the meinbars of which were to prepare or procure reports on the teaching of mathematics in different countries. Most of these reports were ready for the Cambridge congress in 1912, but since then several more have appeared. At this writing 18 countries have published 178 reports, containing over 12,000 pages. Germany has already issued 50 reports, with a total of 5,393 pages. About a fifth of this space is required by the United States for its 14 reports (the present report being the fifteenth), and about a sixth of the same space by each of the following countries: Austria, with 13 reports; Great Britain, with 34 reports; Switzerland, with 9 reports; and Japan, with 2 volumes. The reports of France cover some 700 pages. Of more modest dimensions are, in order of size, the reports from Belgium, Russia (including Finland), Italy, Sweden, Spain, Netherlands, Hungary, Denmark, Australia, and Roumania (1 report of 16 pages). From this statement it will be observed that much greater detail is given in the case of some countries than in others. Moreover, even in reports of about the same length different subjects are emphasized. As this bulletin is based very largely upon facts drawn from the reports to the International Commission, the treatment of its sections varies with the extent of data at hand, and lack of uniformity is a necessity. No claim is made for originality of presentation. For the most part only those schools which are under the immediate direction of the Government have been considered. And even here discussion is limited to the best schools for boys and to the teachers in such schools. As a rule the schools for girls are not as completely organized nor of so high a standard. It has seemed to me desirable to include in this bulletin, when possible, very brief independent sketches of the educational conditions in the various countries, so that the reader may receive here in connected form condensed but definite accounts of the following phases of educational work in the country under discussion, in so far as they bear on the preparation of teachers of secondary mathematics:1 (1) The general educational scheme; (2) secondary 1 For greater detail along this line the reader may be referred to Monroe's Cyclopedia of Education (5 volumes, New York, 1911-1913). As to mathematical instruction the Bibliography of the Teaching of Mathematics, 1900-1912, by D. E. Smith and K. Goldziher (Bu. of Educ., Bul., 1912, No. 29), Washington, Government Printing Office, 1912, contains titles supplementary to the bibliographies in the following pages. |