In 1918, a report was issued that organized educational objectives around "Seven Cardinal Principles": vocation, citizenship, health, worthy use of leisure, command of fundamental processes, worthy home membership, and ethical character. This article examines the extent to which curricula of a random sample of high schools during that…

The educational system is a reflection of the society in which it functions. Curriculum and Instructional philosophies are tied to public concerns and problems. For example, concern over technological superiority was expressed in the mathematics and science curricula of the late fifties and early sixties, and concern for the education of the whole…

Written in 1934, develops the notion of a scientifically constructed secondary school curriculum based on the study of social trends. (GC)

Describes curricular and pedagogical experimentation in humanities and social studies instruction conducted in New Zealand immediately after World War II. Compares such developments with the Freyberg Integrated Studies Project, a later three-year curriculum development and research program. Concludes that the Freyberg model provides support for…

Describes how Ernest Hartwell's efforts to establish junior high schools in Buffalo with broad curricula failed, largely because the city's would-be political reformers did not accept the importance of educational reform. (CMG)

Conant's "The American High School Today" (1959) conveyed his confidence in consolidation of smaller schools into comprehensive high schools. The book sparked criticism. Conant's personal papers reveal that his breezy optimism hid doubts, frustrations, and uncertainties. The contradiction in his views foreshadows the turbulent 1960s. (PB)

Educators of youth have always been concerned with the organization of the content of instruction. When the prime purpose of secondary education was preparation for college, higher education institutions very largely determined the content, form, and standard of instruction of the preparatory schools. As the numbers of youth seeking a high-school…

Dr. Tyler looks back over the past 50 years and cites those major factors he views as having affected the field of curriculum development. In addition, he also identifies and discusses four issues that he believes will influence the future shaping of curriculum theory and practice. (Editor)

Within a period of 30 years the high-school enrollment has increased a little over 10 per cent of the population of high-school age to more than 50 per cent of that population. This enrollment is so unusual for a secondary school that is has attracted the attention of Europe where only 8 to 10 per cent attend secondary schools. Many European…

This document contains a reprint of the 1916 "The Social Studies in Secondary Education: A Six-Year Program Adapted Both to the 6-3-3 and the 8-4 Plans of Organization and Report of the Committee on Social Studies of the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education of the National Education Association" widely believed to be the most…

This 30 to 40 minute drama for secondary school students takes place in the Pennsylvania State House, Philadelphia, on September 17, 1787, the day the Constitutional Convention ended. James Madison serves as the drama's spokesman. The drama focuses on five major points: (1) the Colonial Confederation's situation at that time, which necessitated…

Discusses instances of departure from the rights guaranteed to U.S. citizens by the Bill of Rights. Describes the internment of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War and other incidents in which the government denied individual rights. Details teaching activities intended to increase student understanding of such events. Proposes student…

The Norwegian Basic School is discussed in light of several concepts of general education: pragmatism (emphasizing either processes or specified skills); knowledge-centered perspective; polytechnical perspective; and radical critique of schooling under capitalism. Egalitarian political forces in Norway during the last century are also reviewed.…

Prior to the First World War, the public's attitude toward sex education was apathetic. With venereal disease posing a threat to America's "military efficiency" during the war, however, military programs in sex education were instituted that then gave rise to similar programs in secondary schools in the 1920s. (JBM)

Eliot's call for differentiated schooling, which took place in the early part of this century, reflected a social philosophy which assumed that non-Anglo people, for the most part, would remain at the bottom of America's economic hierarchy. This philosophy, and the social and economic conditions that generated it, are explored. (IAH)