The Time Period

Pluta, Christopher, Old Newspaper Newspaper The 1960s 5/22/2014, via Pixabay Public Domaiin Distribution License

Local
Special Education Funds

Arizona School Budget Stretched Too Thin

Nation
The Cold War

The Faltering US Economy

Global
Tiananmen Square

Khan Academy

There are three major time periods in which the Math Wars have been taking place. During the 1960s, the height of the Cold War brought in the idea of New Math, a new standard curriculum that taught students the specifics of mathematical functions and equations. Fast forward to 1989, with the backdrop of students rioting in Tiananmen Square in China and a faltering United States economy, the education system is criticized to be inadequate by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. There seemed to be a global dissatisfaction with the way education has been treated (the degrees of which varied, China's ordeal was much more serious). This criticism brings the Math Wars up to the educational issues of today, with individual states struggling to deal with education cuts. One such states, Arizona, has greatly marginalized the amount of funding that goes towards education. This, along with the rise in online courses such as Khan Academy, makes the future of education in the United States look very grim.