Class 5: February 4, 2008

Aoki

We briefly discussed the Critical Analysis model of curriculum evaluation Aoki presented in his paper, but I think we could have talked about it more. One of the reasons why is because the Technical-Rational model is a product of a political will that is derivative of a critical approach, a critical approach that looks at our society and its place within the world's politcal and economic system. We all know that there is more to designing a curriculum than just looking at whether or not little Johnny or Susie will have a good time and have their self-esteem preserved. Unfortunately, it seems that some in our noble profession really blow that trumpet hard, and, they are heard. Hearing them is the politcally correct thing to do, sometimes. But though it may be a nice thing to do, preserving self-esteem at all costs can ultimately hurt our country's economy. All we need is the house being run by a bunch of people who have been conferred with an artificially high self-esteem but can't write a logical sentence or compute 2 + 3 without a calculator. Maybe they could all buy an MBA. Standards? Who needs them! It's self-expression that's important, right? Imperialism might have a place after all, not necessarily from the colonization point-of-view, but the standards one. What might life be like without standards? Consider the label "CSA approved." Without the Canadian Standards Association, there could be a death every time someone plugs in a toaster. Quality control is important for products and services we use, so why not for education? Outcomes are an important part of a curriculum design, as they are for product testing. Would you use a product that failed a standards test for safety? When was the last time someone's flawed product design was ignored by the CSA because the designer's self-esteem was at stake? Yet, I've heard that teachers accept poor work from students all the time. It has come to the point where students entering university can't write a quality sentence, never mind an essay. If the critical approach to curriculum evaluation and design will work, those who employ it need to acknowledge that standards are critical to the well being of the "system."

McLuhan

Following my last class entry, I’ll attempt to answer the questions “What does curriculum retrieve?” and “What does curriculum reverse.”

There is a possibility that McLuhan’s laws don’t work well outside the context of electronic media (see the DVD Verdict review). What does curriculum retrieve, if anything? If curriculum has always existed in some form or another, then it really retrieves nothing, even if it is grounded in some purpose. What it reverses into, however, can be defined. Pushed to its limit, curriculum may revert into anarchy in the sense of everyone pursuing his/her own curriculum, just like it was before formal curricula were developed.