Date of Award:

5-1953

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

School of Teacher Education and Leadership

Department name when degree awarded

Educational Administration

Committee Chair(s)

E. A. Jacobsen

Committee

E. A. Jacobsen

Abstract

To have a sound and complete philosophy of education is a relative must for all people concerned with the teaching of children. Fortunate is the school whose administration and faculty have in common a functional definition of the term "curriculum" and its place in their total philosophy of education. The school program of only a few decades ago consisted of the strict disciplinary type of teaching, with only a few available subjects which were intended to develop the total capacities of the student. The new philosophy recognizes the variation in students as individuals. One must not assume that there is an "only" philosophy of education, nor is there a final definition of terms. But rather, these are progressive products of learning and experience.

Reeder (9, p. 604) calls attention to the recent rapid changes in the definition of the term "curriculum" and then gives what may be a fair sample of the generally acceptable modern definition, i.e., ". . . all the activities and all the experiences in which pupils engage under the direction of the school to achieve objectives of the school." This definition is all-inclusive as the writer of this paper believes it should be, because it places responsibility on the school for wise and economic use of the child's time as well as the tax dollar. It seems obvious that "objectives of the school" from the definition would be completely harmonious with curriculum objectives which are derived in part from the social situation and the social need.

What are the objectives of the modern high school? This question can only be answered in terms of a given locality. America today, is on wheels and in the air. The radial miles of a locality today is many times that of a locality fifty years ago. Similarity of objectives in schools within a state could be justified because of state organization and the fact that the graduates of the remote school will most likely migrate to larger urban centers where they must compete with graduates of other schools within that state.

The objectives of education should be to develop the individual child so that he can best realize his own desires and simultaneously serve his society to advantage. Such an objective suggests variety in order that society can tap its total resources. This point of view is nicely stated in The Functions of Secondary Education:

Differentiation of the offering is an important means of exploration; exploration is vital and necessary if the investment in education is not to be dissipated . . . . To satisfy the important immediate and probable future needs of students in so far as the maturity of the learner permits . . . . To establish and to develop interests in the major fields of human activity as a means to happiness, to social progress, and to continued growth. (3, p. 98)

If we take the premise that the student needs shall act as a guide for school objectives and to curriculum offerings, then we are accepting the philosophy of the ever-changing nature of the school's curriculum. Supply and demand, in a rapidly changing social and economic environment, will constantly change the educational desires and needs of the high school student. This dynamic nature of the school program is well read from Reeder who in part says, ". . . the curriculum must be constantly adapted to the needs of a continuously changing, and let us hope constantly improving society." (9, p. 611)

The above reasoning is further justified by Leipold when he says that:

The truly progressive schools are ever at work on several curriculum experiments at the same time; which are ever being scrutinized and observed, judged, changed here and there, each phase but a small portion of a larger whole. (6, p. 55)

Again the philosophy of curricular dynamics gains strength by the support of Barr, Burton, Brueckner (2) when they write that, "A curriculum develops in answer to the needs of a group of learners, and to the demands of a given society." The modern school must accept its obligations to youth by developing a curriculum to meet the current needs of its students.

Population statistics show that there is a major migration of people from the smaller remote communities into the larger urban centers. It is evident that the training needs of those migratory people would be the same as those of the people they compete with and who are schooled in urban environment. Also the basic training for the more academic types of professional careers is the same no matter the source or location of the training center. Therefore, on the basis of equality of opportunity and on the thesis that it is the obligation of the school to discover native talents, it would seem that schools over wide areas should have a common pattern of curricular offerings, and that a common stimulus excited in an equivalent environment would cause comparable patterns of reaction as shown in the curricular offerings of those schools compared.

The purpose of this thesis is to study the curricular balance of certain Utah high schools during the year 1941 to 1951. These particular years cover one part of a year's peace, and all of the war years. These years should provide changing needs of society as well as the needs and desires of high school students. This study hopes to discover if the high schools or their students made a common response to the similar events of time and location. It is the purpose of this study to see how each school responded to time elements of the environment and also to compare all schools to see if common patterns of response are present.

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