we learned set theory in grade 7. . . . As far as I can tell . . . , the Libyan curriculum was based on the Egyptian curriculum, which is possibly based on the British one. At least it was based on it sometime around 50 years ago.
Set theory in seventh grade would be characteristic of the "new math" curriculum. That was taken up by quite a few schools in Britain and in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s, so fifty years ago is about right.
I liked that aspect of the "new math," which I had, pretty well, learning about set theory early and often, but I found that many of my teachers struggled to teach according to that curriculum, which didn't match their own education in math. The teachers being uncomfortable with the curriculum, and parents of pupils in that era not being sure how to help their children with homework, were among the drawback that resulted in "new math" curricula being replaced with "back to basics" curricula by the 1980s.
Set theory in seventh grade would be characteristic of the "new math" curriculum. That was taken up by quite a few schools in Britain and in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s, so fifty years ago is about right.
http://books.google.com/books?id=RVY_aIlezpAC&pg=PA60...
http://www.maa.org/spotlight/smsg.html
I liked that aspect of the "new math," which I had, pretty well, learning about set theory early and often, but I found that many of my teachers struggled to teach according to that curriculum, which didn't match their own education in math. The teachers being uncomfortable with the curriculum, and parents of pupils in that era not being sure how to help their children with homework, were among the drawback that resulted in "new math" curricula being replaced with "back to basics" curricula by the 1980s.