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Mental Discipline Theory Prevalent
Christian Wolff; aGerman psychologist introduced the idea of “faculties”.
He "Laid out a carefully detailed array of faculties that were presumed to comprise the human mind" (p. 4).
Mental diciplinarians built on this theory by alleging that certain subjects of study had the power to strengthen faculties such as memory, reasoning, will, and imagination (p. 4). -
The Yale Faculty Report
Day and Kingsley: Defense of traditional education (p.5)
The report recognized that education has two functions: “the discipline and the furniture of the mind”.
Strengthening of the mind
Filling the mind with content -
The Monitorial Method 1800- 1830
"A careful breakdown of the course of study into standard units of work" (p. 2). -
William Harvey Wells creates grade level curriculum
William Harvey Wells, the superintendent of Chicago schools, creates curriculum divided into specific subjects and grade levels (p.2). -
Herbert Spencer
"Spreads the message of Social Darwinism" through his works in Popular Science Monthly and his lecture tours (p. 21). -
1890s Brings collapse of Mental Discipline
Change in the social role of the school.
Change to an industrialized nation. -
Committee of Ten Report
Charles W. Elliot appointed Chairman of this National Education Association committee to create uniform college entrance requirements (p.9). -
The Social Meliorists
The work of Lester Frank Ward, led to the creation of the fourth reform-minded movement, the Social Meliorists. While the group did not have the influence of the Social Efficiency or Developmentalist movements, the view that schools can be a major force of social change and can raise generations ready and able to deal with social ills has taken root, especially during the civil rights movement (p.24). -
National Herbart Society
Scientific approach to education opposed to traditional humanist curriculum, short lived but had a profound impact on the development of curriculum. John Dewey appears on the currculum scenel He sees the Herbartarians as the most promising agent of reform for the time ( p.15 &16). -
Committee of Fifteen
Aligned curriculum and student abilities to becoming high school and then college ready.
Created a new more humanistic curriculum based on child development and the five windows of the soul - grammar, litereture & art, mathematics, geography and history (p.15). -
The Dewey School
The first session of the Dewey school -
Edward A. Ross Published his Famous Book; Social Control.
"Strongly influenced the work of educational sociologists as David Snedden, Ross Finney, Charles Ellwod, Charles C. Peters
They devoted themselves to developing a curriculum consistent with Ross's ideas" (p.77). -
The Developmentalists Make Themselves Known
Hall was the key figure among the Developmentalists, who believe that the natural order of development in a child should be the basis in determining what should be taught. In 1904, he disagrees with the Committee of Ten on 3 points: first, not all students should be taught alike. Second, college ready education is not for everyone. Third, not all subjects are equally valuable. This sets the stage in the future for differentiation, even though Hall called for sorting students. -
The Douglas Commission
Passed in 1905 by Massachusetts Senate and House of Reps. The resolution authorized Governer William L. Douglas to appoint the commission on Industrial and Technical Education to investigate industries and "what new forms of educational effort may be advisable".
Dr. Susan M. Kingsbury; an "expert investigator", issued a report indicating that "the "old- fashioned" curriculum of Massachusetts's schools was perceived to be too far removed from the demands of life" (p. 85). -
Kingsbury's "Report of the Sub-Committee on the Relation of Children to Industries"
Focused on the 25,000 children between the ages of 14-16 who were not in school. Kingsbury found that 5/6 of the sample that he surveyed did bot complete 8th grade and none had ever attended high school; due to the fact the dissatisfaction that the children felt with their school work and the lack of skills after graduating. -
Loenard Ayres published his "Laggards in Our Schools" treatises in education.
He studied the schools and the effects of students who did not make normal progress, as he used school records instead of observation of the schools themselves. He said that the problems were in the curriculum; the curriculum was made for the "exceptionally bright" child, not the "slow" or "average." -
Ayres developed his "Index of Efficiency".
It was applied to 58 urban school systems, and "was to put the social efficiency interest group in a commanding political position in the decades ahead" (p.88). -
Taylor published his classic Principles of Scientific Management
"The heart of scientific management lay in the careful specification of the task to be performed and the ordering of the elements of that task in the most efficient sequence" (p. 81).
1st: Find 10 - 15 men skilled in the work to be analyzed
2nd: Study the elementary operations used to complete the work
3rd: Time each of the movements and select the quickest
4th: eliminate all false, slow and useless movements
5th: Collect the best implements and fastest movements into a series -
Bobbitt published his Article on Curriculum; "The Elimination of Waste in Education"
Talks about the virtues of the school system developed by Willard Wirt in Gary, Indiana; the "Platoon system". this system was designed to increase efficiency in the use of space by shifting studens from classrooms to other indoor rooms such as the auditorium or playground in a systematic fashion. He referred to schools as; plants, superintendent as; educational engineer, as he extended the metaphor of a factory to the curriculum (p.83). -
Thorndike's conclusion about "Transfer of Training"
"Imporvement in any single mental function need not imporve the ability in functions commonly called by the same name. It may injure it." -
Vocational Education
"The whole curriculum for all but the college bound was becoming vocationalized" (p.110).
By 1917 Vocational Education was fully supported by the federal government. "With money, powerful lobbying groups, energetic leadership in high places, and a sympathetic public, vocational education was well on its way to becoming the most successful curricular innovation" (p.123). -
Federal Funding
With the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act, vocational education became a federally funded initiative. A big victory for Social Efficiency, it was the most success movement of the 20th century and is still a major piece of education in America today. With the arrival of federal funding, the door is open for the government to champion their own causes through available funds. -
Bobbitt Published his Book; " The Curriculum"
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THE Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education
The Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education were issued in 1918 by the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education. The focus of this commission was to form objectives for secondary education. -
The Project Method Article
William Heard Kilpatrick Restates the developmentalist idea "that somwhere in the child lay the key to the revitalized curriculum" -
Teacher Involvement in Curriculum Design
In Denver the teacher have participated in curriculum reform. If teachers, who will be implementing the curriculum, are not in on the construction phase, the likelihood of success is low. -
Between 1922 and 1923 Thorndike administers 2 forms of the same intelligence test to 8,564 high school students.
His conclusion; "we find notable differences in gain in ability to think as measured by these tests, but they do not seem to be due to what one studies..Those who have the most to begin with gain the most during the year. Whatever studies they take will seem to produce large gains in intellect" (p.91). -
The First Life Adjustment Conference
Although life adjustment was receiving unprecedented support, in 1947 Time reported that schools in thirty five of the forty- eight states were trying to implement at least some aspects of the life adjustment education (p.255). -
The Launch of Sputnik
This single event brought an end to the deliberation of the last 50 years. We were now in a technological struggle with the enemy and schools were needed to do their part. Academics were all important again to the joy of the Humanists, especially science and math. -
National Defense Education Act
After the passage of the National Defense Education Act, the federal government takes a larger role in what is being taught in American schools, not through direct decree, but through funding (p. 267).
