The 1940s saw the rejection of a curriculum that does not accord with the vocational goals of the students. Reformers viewed academic mathematics as elitist and torturous to students (Stanic, George, and Kilpatrick, 2003).

In 1940, Mathematics in General Education was published. It classified math education based on the following needs: Personal Living, Immediate Personal-Social Relationships, Social-Civic Relationships, and Economic Relationships (Stanic, George, and Kilpatrick, 2003).

America’s entrance into World War II caused some to reconsider the importance of some advanced math in education and call for the limited revival of interest in math. Finally, the end of World War II left America back to attacking academically oriented mathematics, thus computing interest, home loans, and common math became the focus again (Stanic, George, and Kilpatrick, 2003).