I probably would have found value in the article if they hadn't wrapped it in such inflammatory, nonsensical rhetoric. War on math? Progressive? I feel like I need a shower.
This is why I don't read opinion pieces.
I'm thinking you haven't been following this story? "Math Wars" is a term coined years ago (a decade or more, I think). It arose out of parental frustration with programs like Everyday Mathematics. A large number of mathematician/engineer/scientist types challenged the reform curricula in California and gained high visibility. They lobbied hard for a return to traditional methods. With the publicity came the term
math wars. AFAIK, the mathy types didn't make it up (they used the term
mathematically correct). Check the
Wikipedia entry.
"Progressive" is a term the reform crowd uses (I opened up several chunks of comments and found the term 50 times).
