Whether a Standard Curriculum Is Good or Bad

¶ … education in America today should be to erase "mindlessness" as Knight (2008) refers to it (p. 1). Learning is a process that allows for education to take place. Helping students to realize that education is not something that is limited to the classroom or to the book or to the lesson of the day is vital. Education is an activity that should continue on with one, everywhere he/she goes.

The purpose of education in this sense is to arrive at a philosophy of life, a love of wisdom that generates more gains for the individual and for society as a whole. I am affirmed in what I am doing but I am also always on the lookout for more effective approaches. Just because I have found one does not mean I should not be open to experiencing others.

My concepts of reality, truth and values are that reality exists, and truth is that which corresponds with reality; so, for example, if I say the sky is falling when in reality it is not, there is no truth to my statement. Truth and reality require an objective understanding. Objectivity is necessary.

Values may be subjective in the sense that they are personal -- but there are also universal values, which were identified even by the ancient philosophers and while metaphysics may involve "the issue of ultimate reality," I don't feel that one has to have these issues resolved in order to teach and educate.

After all Socrates would teach and talk to others and he acted like he did not know the answers to anything -- but through talking about subjects and trying to be as objective as possible, he and his followers worked towards a truthful understanding of the ultimate reality, as Knight calls it.

My philosophical beliefs stem from this sense and determine my goals and approaches in teaching and leading students by supporting my desire to engage students and challenge both them and myself to experience reality and work to overcome the obstacles that we face together. The thought of Holt, that students require special attention, makes the most sense to me (Koonce, 2016).

Holt suggests that students are unique and that there is no reason to attempt to get them all to the same place, as each is on his or her own unique journey.

Keeping in mind that education is more than just what transpires in the classroom -- that our senses are being educated, our minds, our hearts, our wills, and so on -- it is helpful to see that we all learn from each other; even I as a teacher expect to learn from my students, though they primarily see themselves as learning from me.

Each student has a character that brings something special to the world and it interacts with the world and if we stop and look at each one there is so much to reflect on that can tell us something about ourselves and the distance we have to go to reach that perfect ideal that we call the ultimate reality or goal in life. This may seem like too much scope for a simple question, but really it is a macro perspective that puts the little things into better light.

As for whether Adler or Holt is correct about curriculum, I would suggest that Adler has a point about curriculum because having a good base or store to draw from is helpful, but I think Holt has a more.