Abstract
This chapter summarizes and analyzes educational, financial, military, and political contexts associated with a sequence of events which led to the creation, in 1673, of the Royal Mathematical School (RMS) within a school, Christ’s Hospital, which had existed for more than 120 years. The creation of RMS, with its strong emphasis on mathematics and navigation education, represented a major shift in the school’s curriculum and mission. The wisdom of the decision to establish RMS as a specialist mathematics/navigation education entity with a rigorous intended mathematics curriculum is questioned—given that there was no guarantee that suitably qualified teachers, with proven experience in teaching mathematics beyond arithmetic to 12- to 16-year-olds, would be available.
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Ellerton, N.F., Clements, M.A.(. (2017). Mathematics Beyond Arithmetic: Expanding the Domain of School Mathematics. In: Samuel Pepys, Isaac Newton, James Hodgson, and the Beginnings of Secondary School Mathematics. History of Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46657-6_2
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