A BRIEF SURVEY ON THE POLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF MATHEMATICS EDUCATION IN ARGENTINA

A BRIEF SURVEY ON THE POLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF MATHEMATICS EDUCATION IN ARGENTINA (2005)

By Héctor Penna 
Universidad de Bs As. Departamento de Matemática. Profesor asociado Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.
(ABSTRACT )

Argentina arose as a nation at the beginning of the nineteenth century from a late Spanish viceroyalship in South America.  Almost all of the twelve viceroys were militaries in active service. Independence stated by the Act signed in 1816, was in fact postponed until the second half of the century by external and internal wars.  In the meantime the Provinces of Argentina were ruled by military governors.  Education was not a priority.  In fact local governments continued the colonial policy. Education had a better development between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. National income depended fundamentally on agriculture and primary resources until the end of the 1950s. Private investment in education, specially in R&D is scarce. The portion of national income devoted to education is inadequate. Mathematics education is not an exception:  at the end of the WW 1914-1918 an improvement of mathematics education was attempted. Depending on the economical variable conditions this evolution was discontinued successively by 'de facto' governments, the WW 1939-1945, revolutions, internal war, international conflicts and recently by a nominal government attachment to the state reform ideology.  Argentinian Provinces exhibit different behaviours but in almost all of them the incidence of quasi-illiteracy is relevant. Undoubtedly, although it is difficult to prove scientifically, social and political influences have shaped mathematical curricula. High quality skills, recent developments in communications technology and a proper administration of  resources are needed to improve mathematical education, but the access to regional or global collaboration is not easy.

Excerpt  I.   R B Yacachury. Senior Researcher.  Institute of Statistics and Actuarial Mathematics. Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.    «A Note About Political Dimensions of Mathematics Education in Argentina»