The 1877 Regulation for the Learned School in Iceland

Abstract

In the 19th century, only one learned school existed in Iceland, where the population was 47,000 in 1801 and 72,000 in 1880. Considering the circumstances, the Learned School enjoyed excellent mathematics teaching in the period 1822–1862, when the school was served by Björn Gunnlaugsson, a gold medallist in mathematics from the University of Copenhagen. In the 1860s, discussions about teaching modern languages intensified in Denmark and other Nordic countries. In 1871, Denmark’s learned schools were divided into two streams, specializing in languages and history on one side and mathematics and natural sciences on the other side. Regulations were prepared for the sole Icelandic learned school in 1876, suggesting that the Icelandic school would continue as a onestream school, while Hebrew would be eliminated and Greek reduced to make room for the modern languages, French and English. German and Danish had previously been taught during the first four years. Mathematics would continue throughout the school as previously. Immediately after the proposals for the new regulation were introduced, the governor of Iceland sent them to the Minister of Iceland in Copenhagen along with a long letter, containing his own proposals, suggesting a clear language-history stream in the Icelandic school, as it would overload the pupils to study Latin and mathematics at the same time. He proposed that mathematics be reduced. The Minister for Iceland forwarded the original proposals to King Christian IX, suggesting that Danish and exegetics replaced mathematics in the last two years of the school. This became the conclusion of the matter and the mathematics-science stream was first established in 1919. Over the next couple of years the teachers of the school tried to influence this decision, while it seems that the headmaster, who was a philologist, had lobbied his way through the official system with his emphasis on languages. Letters from the governor, the minister and the teachers are preserved at the National Archives in Iceland. They reveal interesting arguments for and against mathematics education, all of which harmonise in one way or another with the Mogens Niss’s analysis of fundamental reasons for mathematics education from historical and contemporary perspectives, published in the International Handbook of Mathematics Education (1996).