Historical Foundations of Curriculum

Session 3

What is your Personal Philosophy

• Three areas– New England– Mid Atlantic– Southern

Colonial Period

• New England- The first schools were linked to the Puritan church

• Their goals were: – For students to be able to read scripture to

propagate the religion– For students to be able to read notices relate to

civil affairs, laws, doctrines,

Massachusetts

• Had same goals as the early New England colonies

• Passed a law called the Old Deluder Satan Act– It required all towns of 50 or more families to a

reading and writing teacher– All towns of 100 or more had to have a Latin teacher

as well– Goal to prepare students to enter Harvard– To make sure there was never an uneducated lower

class like there was in Europe

Middle Atlantic Colonies

• Education was more difficult here because there were so many different languages– German, English, Dutch

• As a result they ended up without one common system of education

• They ended up with many parochial Schools and independent schools related to the different ethnic groups

• Still in effect today to some extent

Southern Schools

• Did not have an formal system• Wealthy landowner’s children had private

tutors• Later these same people were required to

provide a basic education for poor children, orphans and illegitimate children

• But this system maintained the great inequity in the classes and remained that way long after the civil war

Basics of all Colonial Schools

• Taught mostly Reading and Writing with some arithmetic

• Taught some religion• Teachers were to be strict disciplinarians• Believed that:– Children were born in sin– Play was bad it was idleness– Children‘s talk was gibberish

Types of Colonial Schools

• Town Schools• Parochial Schools • Private schools• Latin Grammar Schools• Academies• Colleges

Town Schools

• Locally controlled public elementary schools• One room, with a teacher pulpit• Both boys and girls attended school• Attendance was irregular depending if the

children were needed to support the family

Parochial and Private schools

• Established by different religious groups for children of their own kind

• Focused on reading, writing and religion• The south also had a version of these, • In the south poorer children attended “charity

schools- less demanding and taught vocational skills

Latin Grammar Schools

• In the early 1600's Puritan families were concerned with the thoughts that someday their trained and learned leaders would be no more.

• As a result they established the Latin Grammar Schools.

• For boys only at first• Major goal was to prepare them for entrance

into Harvard

Latin Grammar Schools

• In a further attempt to ease their fears of not having an educated ministry the Puritans founded Harvard College.

• In order to enter this college one has to pass an entrance exam which demanded that they knew how to read and speak Latin and Greek.

• The Latin Grammar school focused initially on English then on Latin and Greek

Colleges

• Initially most colleges were for the preparation of ministers, Harvard, Yale, Cornell Based on the puritan view that ministers had to demonstrate a mastery in Latin, Greek and the classics

• Other course included , logic, astronomy and math, natural sciences and metaphysics

• Every religion had its own college• PA has one of the most

Academies

• Based on Ben Franklin’s Idea,• Intended to offer a practical education for this

not going to college• Courses included- English, grammar, public

speaking, classics, writing, Practical math, history as a study of ethics

• and many practical skills, including engraving, printing, painting, cabinet making, farming and bookkeeping

Textbook

• Textbooks were first introduced around 1690• One of the first was The Hornbook Primer,

included Westminster Catechism and old testament

• The book was made from flattened cattle horns, hence the horn book

• Most books of this time taught alphabet• Focused on rote and drill

Textbook

• Textbooks later written by Thomas Dillworth• he wrote a variety of books• Initially one book for all subjects• Then the books became specialized as they

are now

1176-1850

• With a new government came a new mission for schools

• At this time we saw the first laws to mandate the existences of schools in certain communities

• Did not mandate attendance• Saw the beginning of removing religion from

the schools a big push for secular ism

Benjamin Rush

• Was one of the first to begin a push to remove the classics from education.

• He equated learning the classics, two dead languages, ( Greek and Latin) “To amusing ourselves catching Butterflies”

• Wanted school to advance democracy and explore our natural resources

Benjamin Rush

• Was one of the first to outline a plan for PA to have a elementary school in every township of 100 or more families

• He wanted free academies at the county level and free colleges at the university level

• He wanted Tax dollars to pay for it all• His elementary curriculum emphasized reading,

math and writing, his secondary curriculum had English, German, the arts, science

Thomas Jefferson

• Was a farmer at heart and had faith in the agrarian society and distrusted the urban proletariats

• He proposed a plan for VA that would educate the common man and the gentry at “the expense of all”- public taxes

• Curriculum very similar to rush• Felt schools were needed to support the

democracy

Thomas Jefferson

• Was a farmer at heart and had faith in the agrarian society and distrusted the urban proletariats

• He proposed a plan for VA that would educate the common man and the gentry at “the expense of all”- public taxes

• Curriculum very similar to rush• Felt schools were needed to support the

democracy

Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Rush

• Both of their plans were never passed• Although both concepts helped to shape the

schools that would come

Webster

• Creating schools in the new country and agreeing on a curriculum was more of a problem because we had so many diverse cultures

• Noah Webster felt we needed our own language as well as our own government- we needed our own cultural independence as well

• He wrote several books in this effort

Webster

• Some of these books were grammar books spelling books

• The only book that lasted was his dictionary• The American Dictionary- helped create a

sense of a US language, identity and nationality

McGuffey’ Readers

• McGuffey was also a patriot and felt that although the young country owed a lot of its culture to other parts of the world, That the United States had also made some contribution to humankind

• He developed a set of readers, the best selling textbook for decades

• Extolled the patriotism heroism, hard work, diligence and virtuous living

European Influences

• Although there was a push from people like Webster and McGuffey to develop a nationalistic American way, education was highly influenced by people like – Pestalozzi– Froebel– Herbart– Spencer

Pestalozzi

• Was a Swiss Educator• Is credited for laying the basics for today’s

elementary school• Wanted children to learn through their senses• He deplored rote learning• Proposed a general and special method– General method- educators provided emotional

security and affection for students– Special method- dealt with dealing with senses like

auditory and visual

Froebel

• Had a strong belief that early education was important

• Designed the concept for kindergarten• Believed that learning should be organized

around play and the student’s interests- use manipulatives

• Provide a safe secure environment.

Herbart

• Believed in a balance curriculum– Traditional curriculum to rigid– Believe that there was two bodies of knowledge• Ethical knowledge• Empirical data, facts and theories

• Needed to develop the morality• Wanted history, English, science and math

integrated into all levels of education

Herbart

• Believed learning was a psychological process that teachers needed students needs and interest through:– Planning- considers students previous learning– Presentation-introduce new lesson– Association-tie new material to existing material– Systemization- teach rules, principles or

generalization– Application-the new ideas are tested and applied

to pertinent activities ( authentic assessment)

Spencer

• Opposed religion- The beginning of many• Believed that traditional schools were

impractical and a luxury of the upper class• Advocated for a scientific, practical curriculum

that would support an industrial society• believed that students should be taught how

to think, not what to think

Spencer

• Was a believer in Darwin and felt that a school curriculum should advanced a societies ability to survive and progress

• Believed in a form of discovery learning and was an influence on the followers of john Dewey

In your groups

• What forces do you think was the greatest influence in changing the schools

Universal schools

• Schools for everyone began to be adopted in all areas of the country

• The urban east, schools were always there for the upper class, but now available for the lower class as well and seen as an important opportunity

• Schools were also being established in the newly settled west

• Schools had many different looks and approaches

Monitorial Schools

• Were run on the premise of keeping them efficient ( sound familiar)

• The teacher taught the bright students and then they taught the other students

• Taught the three Rs and religion

Common Schools

• Forged by Horace Mann• Was the precursor to our public schools• Mann was a salesman- Sold each faction of society

on how the common school would help everyone– Told Puritans that it would promote a common culture– Told business it would prepare workers– Build a better society– Told rich it was their obligation

Elementary Schools

• Were in full gear by 1900• Religion was dropped from the curriculum• Added morals/ manners instead

Secondary Schools

• Although many children attended elementary schools, the secondary schools were established were not well attended till the 1930s to 1970 range

Academies

• Replaced the Latin Grammar school • Designed to provide a practical curriculum• Similar to a secondary school, but had a much

larger enrollment• Prepared students for not just college ( but

mostly), but also for vocational careers as well• They eventually became High schools, what

remained were mostly all girl schools

Secondary Schools

• In 1870 courts ruled that taxes could be used to fund schools

• Then state after state mandated attendance• Unlike the European models, it served all

classes of students under one roof

• Offered a full range curriculum

Secondary SchoolsThe curriculum offered

• Algebra• Higher Arithmetic• English Grammar • Us History• Latin• Geometry • Physiology• natural philosophy

• Physical geography• German • General History• Rhetoric• Bookkeeping• French • Zoology• Some vocational

courses as well

School Continued to Change

• As school evolved there were many unsettled questions- European philosophies versus new psychology

• In 1983- The NEA formed Three committees to develop a philosophy that would guide schools– The Committee of Fifteen- Elementary School– The committee of Ten- Secondary Schools– Committee on College Entrance

The

Committee

of

Fifteen

Elementary

School

• This committee actually took a step back• It did away with Kindergarten• Thought that students needed strict discipline

and strict teacher authority• Made elementary schools k to 8

The committee

of

Ten

Secondary

Schools

• Curriculum stayed the same, but they added four tracks

• 1. Classical College bound tracks• 2. Latin Scientific• 3. Modern Languages Not college bound• 4. English

The committee

of

Ten

Secondary

Schools

• The Committee was somewhat political, eight of the ten members were college representatives and stated what they wanted

Committee

on

College

Entrance

• Defined what they expected students to have in High School

• They strengthen the program in High School• The credits the students accumulated were

measured in Carnegie Units, still used today

Harris and Eliot

• Were two conservative educational reformers• Harris: Had a major impact on the schools for

decades• Limited any vocational • Focused on • Focused on– work versus any play– Order versus any freedom– Effort rather than interest

Harris and Eliot

• Harris focused so much on the classic, it discouraged working class students from attending school

Harris and Eliot

• Eliot• Believed that elementary students could work

on much higher subjects• Also supported tracking , even in elementary

school• Wanted vocation al schools, but in a separate

place• Later this became a common belief

The modern Curriculum

• Eventually educators could not ignore all of the information from Educational Psychologist and educators like Pestolozzi, Montessori, Froebel, Piaget, Dewey and Gestalt psychologist

• The end of the classical curriculum- they argued that there was no research that showed studying the classics hade greater benefit for developing mental capacity tan other curriculums.

The Modern Curriculum

• Around 1917• Had four basic areas– Science – Civics– Industry- Trades– Aesthetics

Dewey

• Pushed to have schools be a neutral institution

• Democracy was a social institution that could be enhanced by schools

• Democracy in Education

Judd

• Was the first to used statistical research to make decision about what was right to do in schools

• Looked at what was the best methods to use to teach children to solve problems

• Had two tracks of students– Slower students– Brighter and Average students

Secondary schools change again

• NEA in 1918 recommended that High schools serve everyone– College prep– Vocational tract

– Began to assume the modern curriculum patterns we see today

1920 to 1950

• Saw the first book written on curriculum by Charles and Bobbitt– Many of the principles proposed are still used today– First to propose evaluation of curriculum into process

• Written in the behaviorist approach we talked about last session

• Concerned with – Objectives– Efficiency

Kilpatrick

• Evolved the curriculum further , a discipline of Dewey

• Try to merge the behaviorist approach with the progressive approach the new approach was the project approach or the purposeful activity

• He advocated giving children input into the curriculum ( selecting the project)

Twenty-Sixth Year book

• Got together all of the power brokers in schools of the time ( 1930) from Bobbitt to Kilpatrick and they wrote two volumes on the direction schools should take

• Proposed and Ideal curriculum• Later developed into four guiding principles

Four Guiding principle Harold Rugg

• A statement of objectives• Sequence of experiences-• The subject matter that is best means for

engaging the students• Statement of outcomes

• Not bad for 1930

The Eight Year Study

• Was Another influential work• It compared different types of curriculum and

measured how students did using these different approaches

• Developed basic principles a best practices of sort

The Eight Year Study

• Also called for evaluation of the curriculum• First to develop that a single topic could

achieve multiple objectives• Had three categories of objectives– Knowledge acquisition– Intellectual Skills– Attitudes and feelings

Goolad

• Although much had been written and research a study in 1969 found little had changed in schools, things like – classrooms were teacher centered– Emphasis on control ( not fair)– No enthusiasm or excitement- teacher is flat– Little media, little guest speakers– Teachers had minimum expectations– Good looking students and athletes were most

popular kids in the schools