Traditionalist Views on Knowledge and Essay

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He recommends that the teacher should not just stuff a student's memory, but pique the student's curiosity about the subject through dialogue and having the students organize their thoughts through exercises and exams.

Values in the Curriculum

Dewey sought to develop self-aware, conscientious citizens by focusing on individual development in the curriculum. Dewey recommended that teachers organize subject matter and activities that builds on the student's prior knowledge and experiences, which would make the task more meaningful and enriching to the student.

Hirsch's seeks to create a common pool of shared knowledge by installing a curriculum which consists of a systematic checklist of important concepts, people, and events in our cultural heritage. For a student to be "culturally literate," students would be expected to know certain the items on this checklist at certain stages of development.

Adler's curriculum consisted of the "three columns": the acquisition of organized knowledge through lectures and textbooks, the development of intellectual skills through supervised practice, and the enlarged understanding of ideas and values through Socratic dialogue. Adler believed that children should read the great classic books first, to learn fundamental concepts underlying our civilization and to practice comprehending difficult ideas.

Freire's curriculum was based on what he called "problem-posing education," where students were to learn through experience, particularly experiences where they attempt to solve real-world problems. He believed that political activism was one way in which teacher and student would engage in a confrontation with reality directly.

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Personal Thoughts

I believe that progressive education theorists such as Dewey and Freire tend to underestimate the merits of knowledge. Dewey and Freire tend to characterize knowledge narrowly as the mere memorization of facts and events. However, knowledge is deeper than just memory. A baseline pool of reliable knowledge prevents us from wasting time by re-inventing the wheel. Also, knowledge provides us the necessary substance for the synthesis of ideas and a deeper understanding of the world.

Adler's recommendations for didactic instruction show us that the transmission of knowledge can be invigorating and inspiring if the teacher is dedicated and skilled. Also, Hirsch makes an astute point about the other merits of knowledge, that it helps bring communities closer together, making them more stable and efficient. More important for students is the fact that most communities and groups already do assume standard knowledge, which determines how far one gets in that community.

I think the curriculum experience-based curriculum recommended by progressives like Dewey and Freire would be optimal for students who have mastered the baseline pool of knowledge and can afford to explore other dimensions of learning. However, for the average or deficient student, Adler's curriculum provides valuable stability and a way to measure progress. For students who are disadvantaged, it is even more important to master this shared knowledge because, as Hirsch suggests, this is knowledge that one might be expected to know in the workplace and in various social….....

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