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

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 Schools The 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 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 E l e m e n t a r y S c h o o l 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 TenSecondary SchoolsThe committee of TenSecondary Schools Curriculum stayed the same, but they added four tracks 1. ClassicalCollege bound tracks 2. Latin Scientific 3. Modern LanguagesNot college bound 4. English

The committee of TenSecondary SchoolsThe committee of TenSecondary 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 – 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