Curriculum Change Article Assessment-1

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Curriculum Change Article Assessment-1

Deborah Davis

Liberty University

Curriculum Change Article Assessment 1

Shubert (2014/1996) presents “Perspectives on Four Curriculum Traditions” by giving voice to the perspectives themselves. From the staid professional voice of the intellectual traditionalist to the jeans and t-shirt casualness of the experientialist, the voice brings the image to mind of an entire personality captured in but a few words. Then, the article itself and the views expressed are summarized with a warning to be alert for continual change and a need to embrace the varied perspectives for “the whole panoply of situations that lie ahead” (p. 19). In doing so, clarity is given to the diversity of the perspectives, but like four-squares dividing a larger square, the connectedness is universal. Curriculum is not just the textbook. Anyone who can read could read a textbook, and hopefully gain some new knowledge. If Dewey was right in claiming that “education is not preparation for life; education is life itself,” then as educators, our responsibility is the combined weight of not only teacher, but sociologist, psychologist, and almost every other –ist.

Summary of the Traditions

The intellectual traditionalist is focused on the homogeneity of the educational process. Basically, we all know what we have known and what we will know. It is because of this that the need to study the ancients is absolutely critical. Only in doing so can the students of today provide a continuity of intellect and education for the future. Without this firm foundation, the future is a frail and crumbling structure. The long-standing voice of Socratic dialogue and debate provides evidence to the efficacy of the manner, and so, the staid professor in the suit and tie will make the lecture in the traditional manner.

The social behaviorist knows that the past is in the past, and that the use of the tomes is only as jumping off points for new ideas. Today’s society is exciting and ever changing, and the educator of today needs to be a part of it; immersed within the society itself are the elements of the path curriculum should follow. This anxiously interactive researcher embraces change, even seeks it, and encourages the student populace to grasp at the world with both hands – reaching always to learn more, be more, and do more.

The experimentalist is interactive, teaching from within the group, and encouraging others to take leadership. Instead, this educator guides and directs the discussion, pulling at strings of conversation to unravel new thought processes. In this process, the educator is using history only as a research tool, a blanket on the grass on which to sit while pondering the insights of logic.

The critical reconstructionist is earnestly pulling for individuals to find their own place. The messages of society are manifested within the microcosm that is school. Painting the colors of each person’s piece in the puzzle is a task built upon the process of finding each person’s place in the puzzle of the world as a whole. The reconstructionist seeks for ways for the pieces to change the image. Things need not be what they have been; they can be what they become.

Personal Perspectives

Like most people, I am a composite production of theories. As an educator of some thirty years of experience, I have seen application of all these theories and applied them each individually and in various combinations as needed. Value is to be found in all areas, whether agreed with in whole, in part, or not at all. The greatest value in my current educational foray parallels the insights of the social behaviorist. Teaching English composition to college freshmen, I find myself continually advising them to show me the reference, take it from the text, and give me the evidence of their own advocacy. This, I believe, is critical to the dispersementof an academic mindset: always willing to learn something new, yet never neglecting to learn from something old.

Consequently, I find myself giving a nod to each of the other positions on curriculum, but my slightest nod goes to the critical reconstructionist. As presented herein, “Each institution of society, school being a prominent one, passes on the hierarchies of the society at large” (Shubert, 2014/1996, p. 19). While on the face of it, the comment is likely true, and in some ways fair enough, there is a tone which underlies it as if to say this is a bad thing. Personally, I am not sure that the microcosm of school is a reflection of society. In my own history of largely public schooling, I have seen greater diversity and greater homogeneity within some schools than others. Further, it is my reflection that any composite group will become a reflection of its members and their leadership.

Conclusion

To be a professional educator is to assume an awesome responsibility. Right or wrong, good or bad, our personal perspective on teaching, on students, and on the curriculum we use sets a path for the race these students are running. The race course is not merely a track. This race is cross-country. The journey from the classroom in which we stand is a culmination of the paths we took to get there, but for our students, it is merely a stopping place. We, as educators, need to keep this in mind as we use the tools of curriculum theory to provide learning opportunities to our students.

References

Shubert, W. (2014). Perspectives on four curriculum traditions. In F. Parkay, E. Anctil, & G. Hass (Eds.) Curriculum Leadership: Readings for Developing Quality Educational Programs (pp. 15-19). New York: Pearson Publishing. (Original work published in 1996).