Trends in the Emphasis on Various Topics of Arithmetic Since 1860

Abstract

The curriculum may be thought of as consisting in (i) the aims, the objectives, or the purposes of teaching a subject and in (2) the topics and learning exercises of the subject. The curriculum is not fixed. It is changing in its nature, and it exhibits the aims and the topics and learning exercises which the leading educators of the various periods of time consider best for the educational advancement of the race. Philosophers, psychologists, and educators have, from time to time, shifted their points of view with respect to the proper emphasis in securing what is termed an education, and the type of learning exercises emphasized have varied accordingly. However, it must not be forgotten that, when a certain type of subject matter has once been added to the curriculum, tradition tends to keep it there, and the elimination of such matter is secured much more slowly than was the addition to the curriculum. Because of this fact and others, practice usually lags behind theory, and the contents of textbooks and of courses of study do not always reflect that which the leading educators desire at a given time. Arithmetic has been a prominent elementary-school subject ever since it was introduced into the schools of America, and it reflects, in a general way, the trend of thought of the leaders in the field of education. From the beginning, arithmetic was taught because of its practical utility. It was regarded as a necessary tool for those who entered the business of making a living, but many persons considered that it possessed little general educational value. Changes in our business and in our social life brought about changes in the arithmetic requirements. Hence, some learning exercises which were very valuable at one period of time were found to have little, if any, practical application in another period, and exercises applicable to new developments in the business and the social world had to take the 767