Chapter 5 Social Foundations of Curriculum + 1

While achievement scores paint a dire picture for a 21st century American work
force, other scholars believe this picture is overblown, or at the very least simplistic. They
argue, for instance, the United States has a significantly higher percentage of children liv
ing in poverty-about 20 percent, compared with those in Japan (14.9 percent), Canada
(13.3 percent), and Finland (5.3 percent),88 all of which, they believe, contribute to lower
rankings. When scores from similar SES are compared, however, the United States
compares adequately.
Other achievement tests are more positive. For example, U.S. fourth graders ranked
within the top 13 nations in terms of overall literacy when measured by the Progress in
International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).89 Trends show significant gains in mathematics
and science achievement since 1995 among eighth graders, according to TIMSS 2011, with
only a dozen or so nations ranked higher.90
Finally, scores also may not even reflect what actually happens in the workplace. China's
economy, for instance, remains driven by manual labor, low-cost manufacturing, and civil ser
vice positions, none of which leverages their students' creative problem-solving potential.91 As
such, predictions of future gloom may be exaggerated. Education, in fact, may play a limited
rolein national wealth and productivity. According to one economist, test scores predict no more
than 6 percent of workforce productivity.92 Other scholars believe broader forces, like trade pol
icy, public investment, and tax and monetary policy, matter more.93

Conclusion
Understanding social foundations of curriculum is
essential because such foundations have always had
major influences on schools and curriculum
decisions. Comprehending those forces in society at
large and locally enables educators to determine what
aspects of society to transmit to current and future
students and what dimensions of society require
reinvention. Curric ularists must be social historians,
current social analysts, and social futurists. Current
and future consideration of society, education, and
schooling are challenging in light of the diversity of
our local, state, national, and in ternational societies.
Educators involved with the creation, implemen
tation, evaluation, and management of curricula must
possess competence regarding our various societies and
our national personality. Curriculum specialists, teach
ers, and administrators must keep up to date on social
and developmental theories, understand both the modern
and the postmodern family, and process the challenges
of moral and character education.
Analyzing the social foundations of curricu
lum allows educators to determine the myriad roles
schools and educators play. Dealing with these foun
dations directs educators in processing questions as
to how or even if schools make a difference in
knowledge
and procedures learned, and whether schools and their
curricula affect society and its challenges.
Now consider these summary points: (1) The
pur poses of education are influenced by changing
social forces, but there tends to be a balancing act
between developing the potential of the individual
and improv ing society. (2) Another balancing act or
duality is the need to stress intellectual and moral
matters. Most schools, however, emphasize learning
in the cognitive domain and deemphasize the moral
domain. (3) Since the early 1960s, American society
has changed from an inner-directed society to an
other-directed society and now to a postmodern
society. (4) The American fam ily is changing from
households headed by two adults to households
headed by one adult. In an age of diver sity and
pluralism, the nuclear family is being replaced by
many different family forms. (5) The peer group
becomes increasingly important as children proceed
through adolescence; it has an important influence on
social behavior and academic achievement. (6) The
culture of the classroom and school tends to stress
pas sive and conforming behaviors; students adapt to
the environment by exhibiting various strategies,
ranging from manipulative and pleasing to
withdrawing and hostility.
Discussion Questions
1. What isthe difference between education and
sclwoling?
2. How does society shape a modal personality?
What are the characteristics of a modal
personality in your country?
3. What content is essential for moral teaching? What
should be the teacher's role in promoting moral
education?
4. Describe the relationship between children's read
ing habits and their family's economic status.
Notes
1. John Dewey, Experience and Education (New York:
Macmillan, 1938), pp. 39--40.
2. Allan C. Ornstein and Daniel U. Levine, Foundations
of Education, 10th ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
2008), p. 325.
3. Ibid.
4. Ruth Benedict, Patterns of Culture (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1934), p. 253.
5. Margaret Mead, And Keep Your Powder Dry (New York:
William Morrow, 1941).
6. Robert J. Havighurst, Human Development and Educa
tion (New York: Longman, 1953), p. 2.
7. Robert J. Havighurst, Developmental Tasks and Educa
tion, 3rd ed. (New York: Longman, 1972), pp. 14-
35, 43--82.
8. H. H. Giles, S. P. Mccutchen, and A. N. Zechiel,
Explor ing the Curriculum (New York: Harper & Row,
1942).
9. Florence B. Stratemeyer, Hamden L. Forkner,
Margaret
G. McKim, and A. Harry Passow, Developing a Curricu
lumfor Modem Living, 2nd ed. (New York: Teachers
Col lege Press, Columbia University, 1957).
10. B. Othanel Smith, William 0. Stanley, and J.
Harlan
Shores, Fundamental Curriculum Development, rev. ed.
(New York: World Book, 1957).
11. Henry Harap, The Changing Curriculum (New York: Ap
pleton-Century-Crofts, 1937).
12. David Riesman (with Nathan Glazer and Ruel Denny),
The Lonely Crowd (Garden City,NY:Doubleday,
1953). 13. Todd Gitlin, "How Our Crowd Got Lonely,"
New York
Tunes Book Review (January 9, 2000), p. 35.
14. Robert Putnam, Our Kids: The American Dream in
Crisis (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015); Hillary
Rodham Clinton, It Tas a Village, 10th
Anniversary ed. (New York: Simon & Schuster,
2006); and Henry Giroux, America's Education
Deficit and the War on Youth (New York: Monthly
Review Press, 2013).
15. David Elkind, "School and Family in the Post Modem
World,"Phi Delta Kappan (September 1995), p. 10.
16. Michael Apple, Ideology and Curriculum (Boston:
Rout ledge & Kegan Paul, 1979); Paulo Freire,
Pedagogy of the
5. What do the studies by Jackson and by Goodlad
suggest about the culture of classrooms?
6. What is cooperative learning? How can
teachers ensure that peer relationships support
learning rather than impede it?
7. Do you think schools can overcome
socioeconomic divisions based on income
inequalities?
Oppressed (New York: Continuum, 2000); Paulo
Freire, The Politics of Education (Westport, CT:
Bergin and Garvy, 1985); and Ivan Illich,
Deschooling Society (New York: Harper & Row, 1971).
17. Daniel Bell, The Coming of Post Industrial Society
(New York: Basic Books, 1973).
18. Bell gave credit to Shannon.
19. James Gleick, "Bit Player," New York Times Magazine
(December 30, 2001), p. 48.
20. Elizabeth Lopatto, "Unmarried Couples Living
Together Is New U.S. Norm," Bloomberg Business
(April 4, 2013), retrieved from
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04/unmarried-couples-living-together is-new-u-s-norm.
21. Andrew Cherlin, The Marriage-Go-Around: The State of
Marriage and the Family inAmerica Today (New York:
Knopf, 2009).
22. Stephanie Coontz, ''The American Family and the
Nostal gia Trap,'' Phi Delta Kappan (March 1995), pp.
K1-K10; and Lynn Smith, "Giving Context to Issues
'90's Family's Face," Los Angeles Thnes (November 12,
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23. Gretchen Livingston, "Less Than Half of U.S. Kids
To day Live in a Traditional Family," Pew Research
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24. Natalie Angier, "The Changing American Family,''
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25. John I. Goodlad, A Place Called School (New York:
Mc Graw-Hill, 1984); and John I. Goodlad,
Educational Re newal (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
1994).
26. Phillip H. Phenix, Realms of Meaning (New York: Mc
Graw-Hill, 1964), pp. 220--221.
27. Maxine Greene, Teachers as Strangers (Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth, 1973); Maxine Greene, Variation on a
Blue Guitar (New York: Teachers College Press,
Columbia University, 2001); and Van Cleve Morris,
Existentialism in Education (New York: Harper & Row,
1990).
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Macmillan, 1916), p. 414.
29. Ibid., pp. 411, 415-416.
30. The Junior Great Books Program is headquartered inChi-
cago. It organizes workshops on a regular basis to train
selected teachers to train colleagues in the principles and
methods of teaching students in grades K-12 great ideas
by emphasizing social and moral issues.
31. Harry S. Broudy, B. 0. Smith, and Joe R. Bunnett,
Democracy and Excellence in American Secondary Edu-
cation (Chicago: Rand McNally), p. 19.
32. Florence B. Stratemeyer et al.,Developing a Curriculum
for Modem Living (New York: Teachers College Press,
Columbia University, 1947).
33. Mortimer J. Adler, The Paideia Program (New York:
Macmillan, 1984).
34. Theodore Sizer, Horace's Compromise (Boston: Hough-
ton Mifflin, 1987).
35. Phenix, Realms of Meaning.
36. PBS Video: Catalog of Educational Resources (Spring
2006).
37. Theodore R. Sizer and Nancy Faust Sizer, The Students
Are Watching: Schools and the Moral Context (Boston:
Beacon Press, 1999).
38. Amy Gutman, Democratic Education, rev. ed. (Prince- ton,
NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999); and Nel Nod-
dings, Educating Moral People: A Caring Alternative to
Character Education (New York: Teachers College Press,
2002).
39. Paul Tough, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and
the Power of Character (New York: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, 2012)
40. Paul Tough, "What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?"
New York Times (September 14, 2011), retrieved from
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the--secret-to-success-is-failure.html.
41. Jane Smiley, The Man Who Invented the Computer (Gar-
den City, NY: Doubleday 2010). The answer is (a) John
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42. David L. Ulin, The Lost Art of Reading (New York: Basic
Books, 2010).
43. Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley, "The 30 Million Word
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44. Douglas Quenqua, "Quality of Words, Not Quantity, Is
Crucial to Language Skills, Study Finds,'' New York Times
(October 17, 2014), p. A22.
45. Richard Arlington and Anne McGill-Franzen.
"Got Books?" Educational Leadership (April 2008),
pp. 20-23.
46. Richard Allington and Ann McGill-Franzen (Eds.), Sum-
mer Reading: Closing the Rich/Poor Reading Achieve-
ment Gap (New York: Teachers College Press, 2013); and
Donna Celano and Susan B. Neuman, "Schools Close, the
Knowledge Gap Grows," Phi Delta Kappan (Decem- ber
2008), pp. 256-262.
47. Peter W. Airasian and Michael Russell, Classroom As-
sessment: Concepts and Application, 6th ed. (Boston:
McGraw-Hill, 2007); Lorin Anderson, Increasing
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48. Willard Waller, Sociology of Teaching, rev. ed. (New
York: Wiley, 1965).
49. Charles E. Silberman, Crisis in the Classroom (New
York: Random House, 1971), p. 151.
50. John Dewey, The Child and the Curriculum (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1902).
51. Richard Ingersoll, Lisa Merrill, and Daniel Stuckey,
"Seven Trends: The Transformation of the Teaching
Force," CPRE Research Report #RR-80 (Philadelphia:
Consortium for Policy Research in Education, Univer
sity of Pennsylvania, 2014); Richard Ingersoll, "Is There
Really a Teacher Shortage?" CPRE Research Report#R-
03-4 (Philadelphia: Consortium for Policy Research in
Education, University of Pennsylvania, 2003); and Robert
Hanna and Kaitlin Pennington, "Despite Reports to the
Contrary, New Teachers Are Staying in Their Jobs Lon
ger," Center for American Progress (January 8, 2015),
retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/
education/news/201 5/01/08/103421/despite-reports to-
the-contrary-new-teachers-are-staying-in-their-j obs
longer/.
52. Robert E. Slavin, "Classroom Reward Structure: An
Analytical and Practical Review,'' Review of Education
Research (Fall 1977), pp. 650--663.
53. Allan C. Ornstein, Secondary and Middle School Teach
ing Methods (New York: HarperCollins, 1992); Allan C.
Ornstein and Richard T. Scarpaci, The Practice of Teach
ing (Glencoe,IL:Waveland Press, 2012).
54. In lieu of grades, the authors would recommend a report
of children's abilities, needs, and interests, coupled with
strengths and recommendations; the report would be in
narrative form and would not grade or rank the student.
Also see Heather Deddeh et al., "Eight Steps to Meaning ful
Grading," Phi Delta Kappan (April 2010), pp. 59-63; and
Richard Rothstein, Grading Education (New York:
Teachers College Press, 2009).
55. Gallup, Gallup Student Poll Results: U.S. Overall (Wash
ington, DC: Author, Fall 2014).
56. Amy Azzam, "Motivated to Learn: A Conversation with
Daniel Pink,'' Educational Leadership (September 2014),
pp. 12-17; and Daniel Pink, Drive: The Surprising
Truth about What Motivates Us (New York: Riverhead
Books, 2009).
57. Justin Collins, Student Engagement in Today's Leaming
Environments: Engaging the Missing Catalyst of Last
ing Instructional Refonn (Lanham, MD: Rowman &
Littlefield, 2014); Center on Education Policy, Student
Motivation- an Overlooked Piece of School Reform
(Washington, DC: Author, 2012), retrieved from http://
www.cep-dc.org.
58. Phillip W. Jackson, Life in Classrooms (New York: Hoet,
1968).
59. Ibid.,p. 4.
60. Good.lad, A Place Called School; and Good.lad, Educa-
tional Renewal.
61. Siz.er, Horace's Compromise.
62. John Holt, Haw Children Fail (New York: Putnam,
1964).
63. Allan C. Ornstein, Secondary and Middle School Teach
ing Methods (New Jersey: Prentice Hall), p. 20.
64. David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson, Joining
Together, 10th ed. (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2008);
and David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson,
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& Bacon, 1999).
65. Janis B. Kupersmidt et al., "Childhood Aggression
and Peer Relations in the Context of Family and
Neighbor hood Factors," Childhood Development
(April 1995), pp. 361-375; and Malcolm Gladwell,
"Do Parents Matter?" New Yorker (August 17, 1998),
pp. 56--65.
66. Elizabeth Meyer, Gender, Bullying and Harrassment
(New York: Teachers College Press, 2009); and Allan
R. Odden and Sarah J. Archibald, Doubling Student
Peifor mance (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2009).
67. Based on data of projected emollment from the Digest
of Education Statistics 2013, Table 203-50, retrieved
from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d 13/tables/
dtl3_203.50.asp.
68. Philip A. Cusick, Inside High School (New York: Holt,
Rinehart, 1973), p. 66. Also see Philip A. Cusick, The
Educational Ideal and the American High School (New
York: Longman, 1983).
69. Waller, The Sociology of Teaching.
70. Ibid.,p. 384
71. Matt Richitel, "Growing Up Digital." New York Times
(November 21, 2010), pp. 1, 26-27.
72 "Global White Population to Plummet to Single
Digit Black Population to Double,"National Policy
Institute (April 18, 2008).
73. Allan C. Ornstein, Class Counts: Education, Inequality,
and the Shrinking Middle Class (Lanham, MD: Rowman
& Littlefield, 2007).
74 "Fastest Growing Countries,"New York Times (January
1, 2000), p. 8.
75. Between 2000 and 2010, the Hispanic population in
creased by 11million, compared to the Black
population increase of 3 million. Also see Digest of
Education Statis tics 2009,Table 41, p. 75.
76. Pew Research Center, The Rise of Asian Americans
(Washington DC: Author, 2012).
77. The McLaughlin Report, CBS (October 24, 2010).
78. John N. Ogbu, "Understanding Cultural Diversity and
Learning,"in A. C. Ornstein and L. S. Behar, eds.,
Con temporary Issues in Curriculum (Boston: Allyn
& Bacon, 1995), pp. 349-367; and Debra Viadero,
"Even in Well Off Suburbs, Minority Achievement
Lags," Education Week (March 15, 2000), pp. 22-23.
79. National Center for Education Statistics, The Nation's
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2013 456) (Washington, DC: Institute of Education
Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 2013).
80. Susan Neuman and Donna Celano, Giving Our Chil
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velopment of lnfonnation Capital (New York: Teachers
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81. Based on data from the National Center for Education
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Level for Reading and Math, Grade 8 By Eligible for
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82. Peter Cookson Jr., Class Rules: Exposing Inequality in
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83. Education Commission of the States, State Pre-K
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84. Greg Duncan and Richard Murnane, Restoring Oppor
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85. National Center for Education Statistics, Literacy, Nu
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89. National Center for Education Statistics, Highlights from
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