LEARN ASSESSMENT: CURRICULUM TRADITIONS Page 2
Learn Assessment: Curriculum Traditions
Throughout history, education and curriculum have taken on many forms and purposes:
to prepare children for adulthood, soldiers for battle, young men for careers, girls to becomes
wives and mothers. Education and the curriculum choices of teachers and educators shape the
minds and lives of students, alter their paths in life, and impact the society in which they live.
Curriculum is not just the textbook teachers use in the classroom, it consists of the information,
materials, instructional plans, and most importantly, what knowledge is worth being known
(Schubert, 1996/2014).
Schubert (1996/2014) proposes four curriculum traditions that closely align with theories
of education from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Intellectual traditionalism, social
behaviorism, experientialism, and critical reconstructionism. In his article, he presents these four
traditions as individuals with their own story to tell. Each of these traditions have contributors
who represent their ideals and theories as independent schools of thought. Schubert goes on to
point out that very few scholars or educators would support only one of these traditions as valid.
Most would support a combination of ideas to create their own perspective on curriculum.
Intellectual traditionalists, aligning closely with perennialism, embracing curriculum
from a classical classroom tradition (Schubert, 1996/2014). Rather than textbooks, students
should be studying classic literature, art, math, and music from the greatest authors, painters,
mathematicians, philosophers, and composers throughout history. These works represent the
great ideas, as they were called by Robert Adler, including truth, beauty, and equality (Smith,
2020). Firsthand encounters with these works are far more effective in educating students than
second-hand instruction at the hands of teachers and tutors. Traditionalists use education as a
means of passing down traditions and cultural ideology from generation to generation.
LEARN ASSESSMENT: CURRICULUM TRADITIONS Page 3
Social behaviorists are not inclined to teach using traditional methods or materials,
claiming information irrelevant to the world in which the student lived was irrelevant in the
classroom as well (Schubert, 1996/2014). Students need to be shaped and trained based on the
behaviors necessary to be successful in their world as adults, based on what is socially accepted
at the time. Teachers are meant to be facilitators and build the proper environment for students
to learn through appropriate stimuli, as though training them to always have the proper response
(Smith, 2020). Truth is subject to the environment and nature, and when properly learned,
students comply with the laws of nature in an appropriate fashion.
Experientialists, generally the complete opposite of the intellectual traditionalists, place
the value of experience before the lessons from a textbook (Schubert, 1994/2014). In this regard,
life is the lesson that instructs students through encounters with different situations and
individuals with different life experiences. Experiential learning should cater to the interests and
natural abilities of the student, where teachers only act as facilitators to guide the encounters for
learning. In line with the progressive theory of education and philosopher John Dewey’s own
ideas about experiential learning, experience shapes the mind of the learner, preparing them for
the next experience, and another reshaping of the mind (DO, 2022). Experientialists support
natural learning encounters which shape the logic of the learning, which then changes the
psychological thoughts of the learner. According to DO (2022), psychological learning
encounters are not natural, and must be contrived to be impactful, which is not the preferred way
of human learning.
Finally, critical reconstructionists, akin to conspiracy theorists, believe education and
traditional curriculum is used as a means of separating the different classes and layers of society,
and is inherently unequal (Schubert, 1996/2014). Teachers are not facilitators but active
LEARN ASSESSMENT: CURRICULUM TRADITIONS Page 4
participants, using their experiences and ideals to shape the lives and minds of the students in the
classroom, preparing them to take their designated place in society. In reconstructionist views,
all people are inherently good before being corrupted by society, so the educational system is
partly to blame for this on-going inequality. Classrooms should be used to effect change and
create greater social reform rather than perpetuate the indoctrination.
When reviewing these different curriculum traditions, there is not one category that best
aligns with my own philosophies of education and curriculum theory. While hands-on learning
and experience are two of the greatest teachers in my own experience, history, and the lessons it
has to offer, cannot be ignored. God had the Israelites build memorials and teach their children
of the nation’s history and remarkable events so they could learn from their ancestor’s past
mistakes and experiences (English Standard Bible, 2001/2016, Deuteronomy 11). Certain
disciplines lend themselves more to experiential learning, such as science and art, while
mathematics and music must be learned and practiced before the experimental process can be
effective.
Critical reconstructionist ideas of curriculum are the most difficult for me to relate.
Education, and the curriculum used, does not limit the intellectual capacity of the learner. If a
student aspires to learn more, expand their knowledge, and reach greater goals, neither the
curriculum nor the educational system can prevent this from happening. Inequality in the
education system exists, funding is not equal, materials are not equal, but motivation and desire
to succeed do not come from these things and cannot restrict the potential of the student. Each
individual, teacher, and student alike, make curriculum determinations daily. In their own ways,
they decide what is worth learning. King Solomon was not wrong when he said, “Pay attention
to what you are taught, and you will be successful ” (Good News Bible, 1976, Proverbs 16:20).
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References
DO, T. (2022). Progressive education: Views from John Dewey’s education
philosophy.Imastutʻyun,4(3), 22-31.Dhttps://doi.org/10.24234/wisdom.v4i3.907
English Standard Bible. (2016).Dhttps://esv.literalword.com/ D (Original work published 2001)
Good News Bible. (1976). https://biblesearch.global.bible/bible/61fd76eafa1577c2-01/PRO.16?
parallels=61fd76eafa1577c2-01
Schubert, W.H. (1996). Perspectives on four curriculum traditions. In F.W. Parkay, E.J. Anctil,
& G. Hass (Eds.), Curriculum leadership: Readings for developing quality educational
programs (pp. 15 – 19). Prentice Hall. (Reprinted from “Perspectives on four curriculum
traditions,” 1996, Educational Horizons, 74[4], 169-176)
Smith, S. J. (2020).DWindows into the history and philosophy of educationD(1st ed.). Kendall
Hunt Publishing Company.Dhttps://doi.org/10.5040/9781472594037
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