More than a century ago, curriculum development and the essence of subjects were viewed differently. This interesting topic is explored by Tyler (1981) in his article “Curriculum Development Since 1900.” According to the author, in 1910, state education authorities viewed the curriculum “almost solely as the list of subjects,” which was changed by Edward Thorndike and John Dewey (Tyler, 1981, p. 599). They insisted that the information learned in classrooms had to match the outside world’s requirements, which stimulated empirical curriculum studies and altered the purpose of elementary school.
During the first half of the twentieth century, not many teenagers wanted to go to college, making it more challenging to transform the high school curriculum. The great depression and the following World War II affected the planned education improvements and increased unemployment among school graduates. Thus, new programs were introduced, and teachers were encouraged to improve their skills and explore their students’ interests and needs (Tyler, 1981, p. 600). However, the author notes that the decade after 1946 was marked by various impacts of pressure groups on the school curriculum. These groups included “air-age education, anticommunism courses, global understanding, environment education,” and others (Tyler, 1981, p. 600). Starting from 1957, students were expected to have more scientific classes, which also changed after the late 1970s. Finally, the key lesson of this article is that teaching is not a routine activity but a humane service.
Reference
Tyler, R. W. (1981). Curriculum development since 1900. Educational Leadership, 38(8), 598-601.