VOLUME 16.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CURRICULUM. BY IRA S. WILE, M. S., M. D., Member of the Board of Education, City of New York.

The years of elementary school life constitute the period for giving children, the potential citizens of the community, those elements of knowledge and experience which all children should have for functioning as intelligent members of society, regardless of sex, social position, or prospective vocation. In other words, elementary schools should yield that common knowledge and mastery of facts, processes, meanings and ideals which we regard as fundamental to whatever may follow, either in education or vocational participation.

For securing these definite ends, the curriculum assumes a prominent place in the administrative and pedagogic problems of schools. In the development of school curricula, the process of evolution has been manipulated in the interests of that small portion of the community which seeks higher education as a preliminary to entering upon professional life in education, law, medicine, or the ministry. As a result of the narrow conception of the end and aim of education, there has arisen a clash between educators who view education merely as a means of securing that indefinite virtue termed "Culture" and those who seek to achieve a practical education that will afford increased opportunities for the bulk of school children. While many of our foremost educators lay stress upon culture and the development of personality as the end and aim of education, it is undeniable that the greater proportion of children passing through our schools construe education to be a practical preparation for life. To phrase it another way, education is a tool, the nature and use of which is to be learned during the period of compulsory education in order that it may subserve a practical end in the many years that are spent in the world of industrial life. Either our construction of the meaning of the term culture has been narrow or else the time has arrived when we must reconstruct our interpretation in the light of modern necessities.

The traditional school system was not designed to meet the demands of our present complex industrial civilization. The days of the apprenticeship system have declined in so far as the home is concerned. The training for work, the moral training for occupation, has largely passed from the category of home education and has been given over to the schools. The culture of the past has suffered many alterations even at the hands of collegiate institutions where the sacred classical subjects have yielded their dominant positions to the subjects more closely connected with the bread and butter side of life. Practical education is the cry of the day. Is it not possible to conceive the term "culture" embracing within its confines practicality and utility? The division between cultural subjects and practical subjects is an artificial line. The old subjects have refused admission to their newer companions and have circumscribed themselves with a circle of holiness which they term culture. It is hard to believe that anyone will deny the cultural values which are to be secured through an expansion of the educational content of practical subjects, such as domestic science, manual training, and nature study. The term "culture" has grown to be a spectre sitting heavily upon our school curricula and, with forbidding mien, frowning upon the development of curricula that will cultivate the minds, develop the body and create a character and personality befitting modern conditions.

The success of a school curriculum may be measured in terms of the effectiveness of elementary school graduates in their lives after severing connections from the public schools. "By their works shall ye know them.” The development of a democratic spirit with high character, the manifestation of splendid ideals, and the demonstration of an understanding of responsibility for the welfare of the community are the evidences of the successful pedagogical administration of a school system. A school curriculum must afford knowledge, supply

No. 1.

discipline, and yield a utilitarian product. The means of achieving this may be variable. Whether character be developed through the study of mathematics or an investigation into biological problems, is immaterial as long as the same result is achieved. The end of public school education must be the fitting of school children for their respective spheres of influence in communal life. The problem of the school curriculum is to determine what subjects should be taught, in what proportion, in what sequence, and for what periods of time, in order to accomplish this result most successfully, expeditiously, and with the least retardation or elimination.

In determining the true value of a school curriculum, many authorities desire to be consulted. Naturally, the teachers most closely in contact with the school children are able to define the effect of the curriculum upon the children under their charge. They are able to detect its strength, its weakness, its competence, and should be able to constructively suggest wherein adaptations are necessary in order to suit it to the needs of the children given to them for instruction. Boards of Education, responsible for the conduct of school systems, should be able to appreciate the relative importance of the various subpects to be taught, and to weigh the results of the instruction as afforded by the teaching staff. Their vision is not limited to the pedagogical aspects of the subject matter. In the final analysis, however, the public is the best judge of the worth of a school curriculum. Despite its lack of pedagogical training, regardless of its ignorance of pedagogical methods and free though it may be from educational bias, it is the judge and the jury in the court of last resort. The school curriculum as a living force must express itself through the children who are entering into the ranks of the great body of useful citizens comprising the supporters of our public school system. Thus, the children themselves in a sense form a factor in determining the nature and extent of teaching of various subjects in the curriculum.

The worth of a curriculum is not to be determined entirely by the number of elementary school graduates, but must be considered in the light of the amount of retardation and elimination which occurs as the result of the struggle of the average child to master the subjects that are offered to him in the classes. The problem of the supernormal is important, but fades into insignificance compared with the necessity of constructing a curriculum which will enable the average children, or even the dull, to secure an education commensurate with their intelligence and potential learning power. While the precocious children are not to be neglected, more attention must be given to provide a curriculum that will enable dull children to secure an education that will permit them to become more efficient in the life for which they are preparing themselves. If the child cannot adapt itself to a rigid curriculum, the curriculum must be adjusted to the child. Under a system of compulsory education, every child is entitled to an education. No one gainsays that the education essential for a child going to college is entirely unfitted for developing the latent possibilities of a boy who is going into the trades or the girl who is to enter industrial life. Consequently, curricula must not be rigid. They must be elastic. Each community must determine the degree of elasticity which is necessary to adapt its curriculum to its own needs. In large cities, the elasticity of the curriculum must be still further ensured, so that within reasonable limits different portions of the community may receive the type of training which is best fitted for their development.

Because of the brief duration of the elementary education, it is important to secure the greatest opportunity for the practical development of children. The preparation for individual life and social contact is implied in training for citizenship. As the majority of boys and girls are destined to be industrial citizens, it is paramount that the curriculum should possess industrial attractiveness that will stimulate and hold the interest of the pupils. While the place of industries in the elementary school curriculum has not been thoroughly defined or