SCHOOL CURRICULUM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23689, 22 December 1938, Page 7

SCHOOL CURRICULUM

England has travelled far from the days when George the Third told Joseph Lancaster that he wanted every British child to be able to read the Bible, says The Times Educational Supplement. The austere simplicity of the three R's has been left behind and to some extent replaced by an assortment of subjects, each of which is held to be important as part of the equipment of the citizen. It is possible to find reasons for adding almost any branch of knowledge or of manual skill to the curriculum of the primary school. Earnest advocates of one subject or another have no difficulty in finding and marshalling arguments on their side, but in the business of framing a curriculum it is important to avoid the mistake of piecemeal thinking. Spasmodic and ill-considered additions to the range of subjects may defeat the greater purpose of the school and produce the type of mind that knows about many things without knowing anything. Already the primary school teachers are beginning to find that a superstructure built on unsound foundations is showy rather than substantial. They do not desire a return to the old days of the three R's, but they do wish for a proper coordination of the subjects in the form of a balanced curriculum.