The Curriculum

Problems, Politics, and Possibilities

Edited by Landon E. Beyer & Michael W. Apple

Subjects: Education
Series: SUNY series, Frontiers in Education
Hardcover : 9780887068171, 428 pages, August 1988
Out of print (Hardcover)

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Table of contents

Introduction

1. Values and Politics in the Curriculum
Landon E. Breyer and Michael W. Apple

I. Curriculum: Its Past and Present

2. The Effort to Reconstruct the Modern American Curriculum
Herbert M. Kliebard

3. Contestation and Curriculum: The Efforts of American Socialists, 1900-1920
Kenneth N. Teitelbaum

4. What Goes on in Classrooms? Is This the Way We Want It?
Kenneth A. Sirotnik

II. Curriculum and Planning

5. Models of Curriculum Planning
George J. Posner

6. Multicultural Curricula: "Who Knowledge?" and Beyond
Susan E. Noffke

7. What We've Learned from "Living in the Future"
Barbara Broghage, Gary Weilbacher, and James A. Beane

III. Curriculum and Knowledge Selection

8. Curriculum Platforms and Moral Stories
Thomas E. Barone and Donal S. Blumenfield-Jones

9. The Culture and Commerce of the Textbook
Michael W. Apple

10. Democracy and the Curriculum
George H. Wood

IV. Curriculum and the Work of Teachers
11. Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Gloria Landson-Billings

12. Teaching, Gender, and Curriculum
Sara E. Freedman

13. Schooling for Democracy: What Kind?
Landon E. Beyer

V. Curriculum and Technology

14. The Regime of Technology in Education
Douglas D. Noble

15. A Critical Analysis of Three Approaches to the Use of Computers in Education
Michael J. Steibel

16. Teaching and Technology
Michael W. Apple

VI. Curriculum and Evaluation
17. The Human Problems and Possibilities of Curriculum Evaluation
George Willis

18. Developing Curriculum through School Self-Evaluation
Helen Simons

19. Democratic Evaluation: Aesthetic, Ethical Stories in Schools
Landon E. Beyer and Jo Anne Pagano

Contributors
Index

Description

This book examines six major areas of theory and practice that exemplify the field of curriculum: the historical dimensions of the field; planning and organizing the curricula for the public schools; the problem of selecting appropriate content for inclusion in the curriculum; the effect of the workplace of teaching on curriculum theory and development; technology and curriculum; and problems of evaluation. Multiple perspectives are included within each of these major areas, and the various authors help to disentangle both the political and ethical differences among competing perspectives. Beyer and Apple's book extends the scope of recent critically-oriented work in the curriculum field, clarifying both the conceptual and practical dimensions of curriculum decision-making.

Landon E. Beyer is in the Department of Education at Cornell College. Michael W. Apple is in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Reviews

"In this time of a conservative anti-intellectual backlash, this volume is most significant. It is both important in itself and for the field. A good strong volume. Excellent work. " — Steven Selden

"I am very enthusiastic about this volume. The editors are two of the most insightful scholars in curriculum (and related areas) studies today. They are eminently qualified to write about the political and value dimensions of curriculum, and they have chosen a fine set of authors for the articles included.

"It puts values, politics, and ideology at center stage in curriculum discourse. By reasserting the question of worth as central to curriculum (in contrast to technical matters of 'how to deliver'), the editors have made a major contribution to curriculum. The authors provide insights into curriculum history, planning, epistemology, technology, evaluation, and the work of teachers. The latter is often neglected and is of utmost importance to help prevent the deskilling of the profession. " — William H. Schubert