The remainder of chapter one

2 “Untimely” concepts
Concept of curriculum as conversation.
The point of education is not only to prepare students for success in college classrooms, but to enter and be a functional part of society.

“The school curriculum communicates what we choose to remember about our past, what we believe about the present, and what he hope for the future.” Page 20


“Curriculum theory aspires to understand the overall educational significance of the curriculum, focusing especially upon interdisciplinary themes-such as gender or multiculturalism or the ecological crisis-as well as the relations among the curriculum, the individual, society, and history.” Pg 21.

Now this is very important. The role of minorities, African Americans, women, and minorities has been pushed to the side. The “white male” is who the system was designed for, and modifications to both the curriculum and society must be made. (The book – I’m not expressing an opinion)

3. Too Little Intellect in Matters of the Soul”: on the education of teachers
Curriculum theorists would like teachers to focus on independent thinking, seslf-reflexivity, and interdisciplinary teaching.
Now – as educators we are skeptical of the business metaphor, but what metaphor should we use? Biograpahies are too fictionalized – It is the autobiography that is an important part of social analysis. “Curriculum theory is a form of autobiographical and theoretical truth telling that articulateds the educational experience of teachers and students as lived.”

4 The school as a business
Most American schools are still modeled after the assembly-line factory. If we hold this to be tall, then where does that leave the educator/ teacher? As h “S0cial engineer” where we manage learning. Standards anon of the teaching model then reduces the teachers role further.
The plus side to the corporate model is that teachers, while they have standards, can find their own unique ways of teaching to them. Team teaching, small group work and cooperative learning all are part of the corporate model. Corporate model tends to give room to teaching towards multiple Un intelligences, according to “Gardner”
Terms. Manager & coach tend to “masculine “ this model?


4. Figure of the schoolteacher. “Rejecting colonization by the hegemonic disciplines such as psychology, curriculum theory explores and constricts hybrid interdisciplinary constructions, valuing fragments from philosophy, history literature theory, the arts, and from those key interdisciplinary formations already in place women’s studies d gender studies, African. American studies, queer theory studies in popular culture, among others.’

The Nightmare that is the Present - actual title

1. Miseducation of the American Public -
Think of public education as a reconstruction of self and society. Take all of society’s ills, put them together, and this is the state of public education.

Teaching, from the point of view of the curriculum is a way of enabling students to use what they learn in school to “understand their own self-formation within society and the world” We want their understanding to be both local and global. Academia must recognize that the American public is miseducated. Are we too heavily focused on the business model bottom line? Business leaders want to centralize control of schools. Do schools exist for job preparation or do we have loftier goals? Is there a “cash value” to education.

Discussion: Does the factory model have value in the field of education? Teachers are elevated to the role of managers, students are prepared to enter the work force, etc.

Are teachers educators or technicians “managing” student productivity?

Preface and Introduction

What is Curriculum theory?

According to Pinar, curriculum theory is the “interdisciplinary study of the educational experience.” In exploring curriculum theory, Pinar explores the past – American history to date, the oppression of African Americans, the subjugation of women, and “white guilt.” Pinar does not stick fully to one definitive view. He explores many different possibilities of each argument and supposes the reader will make his/her own choices.


In the preface Pinar wrotes about the American South, the 1960’s democratic Presidential campaign that was the start of standards based curriculum, the anti-intellectualism of the current system, where teachers are forced to teach parents, neighbors, etc – anyone who will listen.

Introduction –
Defines curriculum theory and states the school has become a skills-and-knowledge factory. This is based on the corporate structure, where we as teachers are elevated to the role of manager rather than factory worker.

He references Christopher Lasch. Who believes that Americans have become lost in themselves and their work. People retreat into their private lives to get some peace, only to discover they have no privacy there either. This narcissistic view traps people.

“Racism and mysogny have been “deferred and displaced” into public education.”

The National Curricular reform movement is designed to align secondary school standards to the university, thereby establishing academic “rigor”. Now the question is – is the role of the schools to establish academic rigor, allowing students to enter the university at a higher academic level, or are we merely creating workers for a factory model?

Teachers are scapegoats for politicians.

Due to:
Anti-intellectualism of American society,
Racism,
Misogeny
The white southern cutlture
The field of education has remained underdeveloped intellectually. To combat this, we must renew our commitment to intellectualism, recognize and explore forces against us.
This will allow us to help build creative, intellectual, and nurturing schools.