Kliebard chapters 1-4 - Summary The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 1893-1958 PDF

Preview

Summary

The Struggle for the American Curriculum chapters 1-4 summaries...

Description

Chapter 1 - 2 Notes ● 1890’s = Teachers were ill trained, underpaid and harassed. The community was changing due to the time period (railroad, less traditional family life, social role change, immigration, jobs) and social changes and roles. ● American Curriculum was a loosely, largely unarticulated and not very tidy compromise. ● The 20th century became the arena where these four versions of what knowledge is worth teaching and of the central functions of schooling were presented and argued. ● Concept of learning by doing is fundamental and very important for the contemporary education. ● Learning by doing helps students to develop skills and abilities fast and easy because they can retain new skills and abilities easier, if they do it by themselves. ● Using computers provides students with a diverse set of experiences and helps them learn by doing while they interact and work with computers’ programs and world. ● contemporary highly technological environment, students can hardly avoid the impact of computers on their everyday life. ● Dewey pointed out that students should learn from their errors and they should learn how to correct their errors. ● students should learn to view their errors critically, while correction of their errors helps them to learn how to avoid such errors in the future. ● applying activities in schools in order to develop the learners’ communication skills. Students can develop effective communication through activities. ● With the interaction principle, Dewey argued that in the activity, students interact with everything around them, with the teacher, classmates and the objects in the environment ● emphasized its importance in the learners’ experiences. ● focused on the necessity of the connection between the past, present and future experiences of the learners. Continuity means the transition of knowledge and the steady development of curriculum. ● Emphasized the importance of the child’s reflective attention, children will need to apply their knowledge and skills as well as to develop new ones to reach the goals set by educators. ● believed in freedom and its amazing outcome not only in implementing it in the school activities but also in the learners’ thoughts, purposes, judgments and desires. ● argued that giving the freedom in activities doesn’t restrict their abilities to express interests and also maintains their physical and mental health. ● freedom in activities is very important because it contributes to self-exploration and independent research activities of students. ● Did not know about the ethical issues of using the Internet and computers with unlimited freedom these days.

● Kliebard identifies four interest groups as the main competitors in the struggle for control of the twentieth-century American curriculum. ● The humanists   (for example,  Charles W . Eliot, William Torey Harris, Robert Maynard Hutchins) regarded schools as mechanisms for transmitting the traditional values, sensibilities, and cultural highlights within Western civilization. Originally justified this liberal-arts curriculum as the best way to train the mental faculties (the theory of faculty psychology), in this century humanists have argued for traditional subjects on the basis of their intrinsic value as bearers of cultural  tradition. - Define movement/reasons = Humanist perspective about schools is that schools are an environment for applying the choices, sensibilities, feeling and knowledge, self-evaluation and interest. (pg. 9 -11) - Counter- Reason = largely unseen by professional educators in later periods. - Reason = Electivism. Doesn’t want education to be restrictive. Non-authority run based. - (1) Assumption = Students would benefit with Kinesthetic learning rather than visual learning. - (1 Example) = Gives teachers options on how to teach the curriculum. - (2 Example) = Student guided learning. - 1 (Counterexample) = Too much freedom for students and teacher, and also confusing for teacher for the curriculum. - The humanist movement is the post prevalent today. Some implications are labs, teachers being facilitators instead of lecturing, electives, being taught in different ways in order for us to be exposed to different thing. ● Another group (the developmentalists  ) (G. Stanley Hall, William Heard Kilpatrick) based its curriculum ideas on child development, sought a child-centered curriculum that would be designed not only to match the abilities of children at each stage, but also to excite their interest. - Definition: scientific data defines when we should do/teach specific activities. Science creates a pathway of learning for ALL children. - Reasons movement was deemed beneficial: - workload designed to match abilities and ignite interest in children

-

-

“...proceeded basically from the assumption that the natural order of development in the child is the most significant and scientifically defensible” (pg 11). “...Elliot (1905) foresaw the possibility that a differenciated curriculum could have the effect of determining the social and occupational destinies of students, rather than reflecting their native propensities and capacities” (pg 13) - One size fits all curriculum. - Students all have innate talents but are not pushed to excel them.

● Social efficiency educators (Leonard Ayres, John Franklin Bobbit, Charles Ellwood,  Ross L. Finney, Charles C. Peters, David Snedden) perceived schools primarily  as mechanisms for preparing students for future adult roles, particularly occupational roles, thus promoting the efficient operation of a complex society. ● Social Meliorists (George S. Counts, Harold O. Rugg, Lester Frank Ward) saw the school curriculum as a mechanism for promoting social change. Existed to teach students a new social vision of justice and equality in order to equip them for the task of remaking an unjust and unequal society. - Benefit: new opportunities for people with disadvantages (lower income). Gave power to schools to change. - Pg 25 “power to change” Chapter 3 notes ● Describes Chicago and talks about people that were in Chicago, such as Helen Todd, Joseph Mayer Rice, etc. Pg. 52 (entire page) ● President William Rainey Harper assembled a formidable array of scholars in a variety of fields, but particularly in the social arena pg. 52, beginning of par. 1 ● Talks about the people that joined university of Chicago pg. 52, beginning of par. 1 ● Harper was interested in pedagogy and had a desire to make university of Chicago a center, not only of scholarship, but a resource for practicing teachers pg. 52, towards end of par. 1 ● Harper sought to build relationships with elementary and secondary schools, a practice that was common in state universities at that time, but unusual in private universities pg. 52, ending of par. 1 ● Talks about an address that was sent to National Education Association (NEA) Pg. 52, beginning or par. 2 ○ Illustrates the interest in pedagogy that pervaded much of the atmosphere in the early years at the University of Chicago and the general intellectual climate that surrounded Dewey in his new position

● 3 years later, Small apologize in his address for reopening “ a closed incident of ancient history” pg. 52, middle of par. 2 ● Small disturbed by report conference on History, civil government, and political economy pg. 52, middle of par. 2 ● Interpreted that subcommittee to be assuming that the purpose of education was, first of all, “completion of the individual,” and second, “adaption of the individual to such cooperation with the society in which his lot is cast that he works at jis nst with the society in perfecting its own type pg. 52, towards end of par. 2 ● Small felt that what the report represented was a “classified catalogue of subjects good for study” and no real sense of what it meant as whole pg. 52, towards end of par. 2 ● If there were any conception of education as a whole, it was dominated by “a naively mediaeval psychology...which would be humorous if it were not tragical” pg. 52 end of par. 2 ● Dependence on faculty psychology led committee to believe that history could train called judgement and mathematics their reasoning pg. 53, beginning of par 1 ● Small claimed that education “connotes the evolution of the whole personality, not merely of intelligence pg. 53, ending of par. 1 ● Small said that the report presented subjects as “an unorganized procession of pedantic abstractions” that’s unrelated to the real world and served to make s think of subjects as independent bodies instead of parts of ones reality pg. 53, beg. Of par. 2 ● Small said “the rational center is the student himself…. [and] pedagogy should be the science of assisting youth to organize their contact with reality.” not in thought along, but for both thought and action” pg. 53 middle of par. 3 ● Students must see whole if they are to make any sense or derive any meaning from the abstractions from the whole that the subjects represent pg. 53, middle of par 2 ● Small said that knowledge must be seen in its relations, “not as self sufficient knowledges” pg. 53 ○ not the study of sociology but all branches of knowledge should begin at the heart of “concentric circles of social activity” ■ Start with household and gradually extending until “social desideratum” is reached ● Member becomes analytically and synthetically intelligent about the society yo which is belongs ● Small insisted that educators “shall not rate themselves as leaders of children, but as markers of society pg. 53, towards end of par. 2 ● Small said that when teachers recognize their social function, they will begin to fulfill their vital role “in making a better future” pg. 53, end of par. 3 ● Small’s idea on education foreshadowed the growing tendency to see education in broad social terms pg. 53- beg of 54

● Dewey declared that “the ultimate problem of all education is to coordinate the psychological and social factors pg 54, middle of par 2 ● Dewey believed that to get coordination, you should make the school a miniature community ● Dewey believed school should focus on what was valuable to the child in the present rather than preparing them for other things or future life pg 54, towards end of par 2 ○ Rejected the belief that the function of education is to prepare the next generation to operate efficiently in existing social order pg. 54 ● Dewey thought, “to represent and present- all the intrinsic factors of human experience, but Harris’s 5 subject areas didn’t do that pg. 55 middle of par. 2 ● Dewey felt that the groups were “ready made” and that each taught as isolated from the next with “no real principle of unity given pg. 55 middle of par. 2 ● Isolated subject areas caused any subject to suffer, ex: geography loses meaning if seperated from history pg 55. Towards end of par. 2 ○ Do you think that if 2 subjects that are similar to each other are separated from each other, then the subject loses meaning? ● If introduced to the child as clear form the beginning, is too disorganized, instead of coordinate and connect pg. 55 end of par. 2 ● Neat demarcation (fixing the boundary or limits of something) may not be a good thing) pg. 55 end of par. 2 ● Was a problem when subjects were presented in a more or less finished form pg. 56, beg. Of par. 2 ○ Dewey thought it was more difficult to see organized knowledge as related to human needs and aspirations ● Organized bodies of knowledge were the outcomes of a long period of historical development pg. 56 beg- mid. Of par. 2 ○ Instead of springing up full-blown abstractions, they were outgrowth of human condition ● Dewey’s objection to Haris’s position was not about the attempt of bringing the child intellectual fruits of Western civilization, but with the fact that it was being attempted without respecting the way children see their world pg. 56, middle of par 2 ● Promised unity among the major subject was not fulfilled as long as Harris's 5 areas of study was treated independently from one another pg. 56, mid of par 2 ● Dewey had mixed feelings about the efficiency of “culture-epochs” pg. 56 beg. Of par. 3 ○ Culture-epochs: It’s appeal lay in its attempt to take children’s interest directly into account in construction a course of study pg. 56, mid fr par. 3 ● Culture-epochs curriculum proposed to move progressively from the early stages of human evolution to more or less contemporary civilization pg. 56, end of par. 3 ● Dewey considered Culture-epochs

●

●

● ●

●

●

● ●

● ● ●

●

○ Saw the theory as addressing the critical problem of finding a principle “that will give correspondence between child and subject matter” pg. 57 beginning Problems were to be considered ○ The parallelism between the hild and the race was not listeral, so one could not make inferences from race development to individual development without an independent verification that a corresponding stage existed in the child pg. 57, mid to towards end If someone were to summarize historical epochs literally to the extent as curriculum were concerned, they would run the risk of arresting development” by unwarranted extending some aspect of study bc the human race had experiences a prolonged historical period in its development pg. 56 toward end Epoch would have to further recognized even if interest were identified in the child pg 57 end 2nd major aspect of culture epochs curriculum was the practice in Germany and United States of using cultural products of the historical period as the basis of what was taught pg 58, beg of par. 2 If there was an agricultural stage in a child’s development, it “requires to be fed in just the same way in the child in which it wa fed in the race by contact with earth, seed- and the mighty flux and ebb of life in nature pg. 58 middle of par. 2 Dewey rejected the “common assumption in culture-epoch theory that history and literature had to be made the basis of study when such a parallelism was assumed” pg. 58 middle of par. 2 Dewey concluded analysis by suggesting to the ability of children to engage in serious intellectual attempt, pg. 58, ending In developing the curriculum theory that was to guide the Dewey School, Dewey rejected the two alternatives that presented themselves most forceful around the turn of the century pg. 59 beg. par 1 Pg 59, beg, of par. 2, talks about how a school day ran at Dewey’s school Skeleton of Dewey's curriculum beared a marked resemblance to culture epochs pg. 59, end 2nd part. Younger kids concentrated on the “building of the homes on primitive peoples” and Older kids concentrated on ancient Greeks and progressively later historical periods end of pg 59- beg. Of pg. 60 Dewey found unifying concept in what he called “occupations” pg 60, beg par. 2 ○ Term was unfortunate choice bc it could easily be identified with vocational education or with an overriding emphasis on avert activity ■ But, Dewey took pains to explain the special meaning he attributed to that concept

● Explication on the importance of occupation came from the essay “Interpretation of the Savage Mind” pg. 60 beg. Of par 2 ○ Was disturbed by the fact that spencer seemed to take his own civilization as the standard for which to measure others, as it the save mind could be gauged on some kind of “fixed scale” pg. 60 mid. par 2 ● Dewey said that instead of seeing the human mind on some kind of hierarchical scale, we should see human intellectual activity and the culture as a whole pg. 60 end par. 2 ● Dewey said the “the biological point of view commits us to the conviction that mind, whatever else it may be, is at least an organ of service for the control of environment in relation to the end of the life process end. pg. 60 - beg of pg. 61 ● Hunting people, agricultural peoples, and so on cannot be judged by the extent to which they have masters or adopted the trappings of what we call civilization, but on in relation to the dominant activities required by the kind of world in which they live in” ● Understanding of fundamental occupants give us insight into present mental operations, but it provided a way of understanding other features of culture-art, religion, marriage, laws. Pg. 61, end par. 1 ● Dewey’s curriculum was a historical recapitulation, but didn’t summarize historical stages through which the human race had presumably passes. Instead it traced evolution of basic social activities he called occupations pg. 61 mid. Par 2. ● Curriculum built around fundamental social occupants would harmonize individual social ends, which was the central problem to be resolved in any educational theory pg. 5 towards end par. 2 ● 9 years of elementary school has been broken down into 3 subdivisions: ○ 1: age 4-7 ○ 2: age 7-10 ○ 3: age 10-13 ● Dewey saw the aim of the elementary period to not be providing technical knowledge or “possession of a certain amount of information,” but as building into the child’s consciousness “an orderly sense of the world in which he lives pg. 62 beginning ○ Beginning with the part of the world that touches the child most directly ■ Family, to school to neighborhood, and further to the larger society ● Course of study had 3 main subdivisions pg. 62 mid. ○ Manual training, history and literature, and science ● Dewey saw the purpose of manual training, not in terms of the development of useful motor skills but in terms of the opportunities it presented “for cultivating the social spirit” and “supplying the child with motives for working in ways positively useful to the community of which he is a member” pg. 62 mid. ○ we have motor classes now, do you think they use it for the same purpose and is effective to this day?

● Introduction of carpentry work was not for developing the skills of saving and hammering, but it presented an excellent opportunity to introducing calculation within a natural context and for the opportunity it provided of “cultivating a genuine number sense” pg 62, toward end ● Conventional subject matter was expected to evolve, but in a more vital and constructive way than in the typical curriculum pg. 62, ending ● Dewey was trying to reconstruct the issue of the child versus the curriculum in such a way as to make their opposition unnecessary pg. 63, mid par.2 ● Dewey thought that the point of education was unquestionable the latter, but the problem lay in the apparent gap between the way the child sees the world and the way amature adult does pg. 63, ending ● Dewey said that we must discover what there is lying within the child’s present sphere of experience end pg. 63- beg pg. 64 ● Dewey said that the standard for selecting a placing a study is based on the worth it has in adapting the pupil to the need of the civilization into which he is born pg 64, end ● Dewey said the history isn’t about gathering information, but to use the information to construct a vivid picture of how and why men did this and so’ achieved their successes and came to their failures pg. 65, beg ● Dewey saw value in history, but questioned the need to follow a strict chronological rendering as implied in Herbartian culture epochs pg. 65, end ● Nearness “in spirit” is important to the child’s psychological outlook pg 66, beg ○ So, prehistoric life is much closer to the child than the Babylonian or Egyptian period because it “does not simplify or generalize enough, at least in the right way ● Instead of there being a survey of history, there was an attempt to introduce at appropriate peopds in a child’s development those aspects of history that provides insight into the social life of people with particular emphasis on their occupations, occupants that shaped that social life pg 66, beg par. 2 ● pg . 66, mid par. 2 talks about what the different parts of history that different age groups would study, ex: 6 years olds studied occupations of people who lived in urban and rural areas and 7 year olds studied at inventions ● Dewey believed that reading, writing, and arithmetic could be effectively taught within the context of use and especially in connection with the basic occupations around which the curriculum revolved pg 66, mid par. 3 ○ Belief rooted from his overall curriculum theory and partly his co...