A Curriculum for the Twenty-first Century

Abstract

The pessimists take a superficial look at the past history of curriculum innovation and conclude that no meaningful change is possible. Most educational leaders reject that position. Biology 1988 is not Biology 1958; curriculum change does occur. The reactionaries want to return to a classical curriculum that never did work for most students. Many recent curriculum reform pronouncements seem to have been designed for what might be termed the Edsel high school-they add up to a 1950 high school program that was obsolete from the day it was implemented. The revolutionaries are busy reconceptualizing the curriculum, encouraging practitioners to make radical changes in its organization and structure. While there is obvious value in such creative curriculum thinking, radical change does not seem to be possible-or even necessary. I see myself as a reformer-one who believes in incremental meliorism. Reformers want to take small steps toward a realizable future, developing in the process a curriculum that is measurably better than the one offered now. It is in this reformist spirit that the following recommendations are offered. The discussion first indicates the major ways each of the four major disciplines should and can improve by the year 2000 and then presents an incremental strategy for achieving such gains. It is a process that might best be termed curriculum renewal.