Pondering Saber-tooth Curriculum

Reading Saber-tooth Curriculum, I found that it resonates with today’s educational bureaucracy and I was fascinated by the fact that it was written 80 years ago! Truly, little has changed. In particular, the ways in which a few people decide what learning is important; what areas need to have certificates; how many and what type of credit show proficiency; etc. These established rules and requirements create a division between capable people and access to education and careers that make comfortable lifestyles possible.

Truly, I have always liked the traditional education system. I believe it has survived because it works for most. School children through young adults crave a path and purpose and need a safe environment to create and test their boundaries and how to live within a civil society. And isn’t it easiest to learn when there exists a linear path, a logical order, or a foundation of shared knowledge that can be scaffolded upon for more learning? I do not believe that traditional learning is bad. I believe it exists because, overall, it has been successful.

I also believe that differentiation is good and that students should be treated with respect while their ideas and opinions take a place in the learning equation, perhaps this means their culture is considered. I believe that, according to the needs of today’s world in which information literacy and communication skills are highly valued skills, that what students need to learn is different than when our American culture relied more heavily upon industrial jobs for a livelihood.

So it is designing for the ever-changing faces of the classroom that educators, once they are comfortable with their craft, resist. And it is designing for unknown future jobs. It is hard to take advice or read the most up to date information and want to employ it when what you are doing has already been working for you and meets your state curriculum standards. And, some of it is cyclical: been there done that already! Why try it or a version of it again?

Change and employing the latest ideas or using innovative technologies keeps teaching and learning interesting and relevant. Designing lessons with a new perspective and focus on being empathetic to the student is an opportunity to create engaging learning while teaching the same subject is repetitive and relying on the same lessons each year make it easy. Easy and repetitive – mix that with the fact that we naturally resist change and education becomes stagnant.

You might enjoy viewing this video that explain why resistance to change is natural. It is possible that you will recognize elements of its explanation in peers – and ourselves. Once we can see this situation and how it exists naturally, I believe we are on the path to change or at least being more open to other ideas and change. The video is from the show “Adam Ruins Everything: The Backfire Effect”

Let me know what you think; does this explanation help you see the difficulties our peers have when it comes to designing lessons? In other situations can you see yourself resisting change. I do see myself, a little and – ouch!!

Benjamin, Harold Raymond Wayne. The Saber-Tooth Curriculum. McGraw-Hill, 2004.

truTV. YouTube, YouTube, 24 Aug. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8NydsXl32s.