CONCEPTIONS OF CURRICULUMGams Juliu

CONCEPTIONS OF CURRICULUM
Gams Julius Caesar and his cohorts of the first century BC had no idea that the oval track on which the Roman chariots raced would bequeath a word used almost daily by educators twenty-one centu_ries later. The track—the curriculum—has become one of the key concerns,of today's schools, and its meaning has expanded fro it it tangible racecourse to an abstract concept.
In the world of professional education, the word curriculum has taken oil an elusive, almost esoteric connotation This poetic, neuter word does possess an aura of mystery. By contest, other di_mensions of ,.he world of professional education, such as administra_tion, instruction, and supervision, are strong, action-oriented words. Administration is the act of administering; instruction is the act of instructing, and supervision is the act of supervising. But in what way is curriculum an act? While administrators administer, instructors in_struct, and supervisors supervise, no school person curricules, and though we can find the use of the term curricularist,' it is only a tae curricularist who curricularizes.
The quest for a definition of curriculum has taxed many in educator. As long ago as 1976, Dwayne Huebner ascribed -unhiguity and a lack of precision to the term curriculum.' In 1988, Madeleine R. Grumet labeled curriculum a "field of utter confusion.— At the turn of the center/ Arthur W. Foshay attributed a lack of specificity to the
Curriculum.' Indeed, Curriculum seems at times analogous to the blind men's elephant. It is the pachyderm's trunk to some; its thick legs to others; its pterodactyl-like flopping ears to sonic people; its massive, rough sides to other persons; and its ropelike tail to still others. Herbert K. Kliebard observed that "what we call the American curriculum is actually an assemblage of competing doctrines and practices."'
Though it may be vehemently denied, no one has ever seen a curriculum--not a real, total, tangible, visible entity called a curriculum. The interested observer may have seen a written plan that may have been called a curriculum. Somehow the observer knows, probably by word of mouth, that in every school in which teachers are instructing student,, a curriculum exists. A written plan provides the observer with an additional clue to the existence of a certain some_thing called a curriculum. But if by some bit of magic the observer could lift the roof of a school in session and examine tire cross-section thereof, the curriculum would not be apparent. What the observer would immediately perceive would be many instances of teacher–pupil interaction we call instruction.
The search for evidence of the mysterious creation called curriculum is not unlike efforts to track down Bigfoot, the Bear Lake Monster, the Florida Everglades Skunk Ape, Lake Champlain's Champ, the: Yeti, the Almasty, South Bay Bessie, Scotland's Loch Ness Monster, or Sweden's Great Lake Monster Bigfoot, the Yeti, and the Almasty have left their tracks in the mud and the snow; Champ, Bessie, and Nessie have rippled the waters of their lakes; but no one has yet succeeded in producing incontrovertible photographs of these re_puted creatures.
Nor has anyone ever photographed a curriculum. Shutterbugs have instead photographed pupils, teachers, and Other school personnel. Perhaps if someone videotaped every instance of behavior in every classroom, corridor, office, and auxiliary room of a school every day and then investigated this record as thoroughly as military leaders analyze air reconnaissance photos, a curriculum could be discerned.
Certification and Curriculum
State certification laws compound the problem of defining curriculum because few, if any, pro_fessionals can become certified in curriculum. Whereas all professionals in training must take courses of one type or another called curriculum, there is not a certifiable field labeled curricu_lum. Professionals are certified in administration, guidance, supervision, school psychology, el_ementary education, and many teaching fields. But in curriculum per se? Not as a rule, although courses in the field of curriculum are mandated for certification in certain fields of specializa_tion, such as administration and supervision.
Nevertheless, numbers of curriculum workers, consultants, coordinators, and even profes_sors of curriculum can be identified. These specialists, many of whom may hold state certifica_tion in one or more fields, cann,3t customarily hang oil the wall a certificate that shows that endorsement has been granted in a field called curriculum.
Though a certifiable field of !;pecialization called curriculum may be lacking, the word itself is treated as if it had tangible substance, for it can undergo a substantial variety of pro_cesses. Curriculum—or its plural. curricula or curriculums (depending on the user's penchant or abhorrence for the Latin)—is built, planned, designed, and constructed. It is improved, revised, and evaluated. Like photographic film and muscle:;, the curriculum is developed. It is also orga_nized, structured, and restructured, and, like a wayward child, reformed. With considerable in_genuity the curriculum planner—another specialist—can mold, shape, and tailor the curriculum.
Interpretations of Curriculum
The amorphous nature of the word curriculum has given rise over the years to want' Interpretations. Depending on their philosophical beliefs, persons have conveyed these inicipi•to('011s, among others:
Curriculum is that which is taught in school.
Curriculum is a set of subjects.
Curriculum is content.
Curriculum is a program of studies.
Curriculum is a set of materials.
Curriculum is a sequence of courses.
Curriculum is a set of performance objectives.
Curriculum is a course of study.
Curriculum is everything that goes on within the school, including extra-class activities, guidance, and interpersonal relationships.
Curriculum is that which is taught both inside of school and outside of school, directed by the school.
Curriculum is everything that is planned by school personnel.
Curriculum is a series of experiences undergone by learners in school.
Curriculum is that which an individual learner experiences as a result of schooling.
In the foregoing definitions you can see that curriculum can be conceived in a narrow way (as subjects taught) or in a broad way (as all the experiences of learners, both in school and out, directed by the school). Th~, implications for the school to be drawn from the differing C011CL•p_tions of curriculum can vary considerably. The school that accepts the definition of city 1 iculu ill as a set of subjects faces a much simpler task than the school that takes upon itself responsibili_ties for experiences of the learner both inside and outside of school.
A variety of nuances are perceived when the professional educators define corriculum. Let's trace how a number of writers between file early twentieth and early 2 Ist centuries L'011- ceptualized curriculum. Franklin Bqbbitt, one of the earliest writers oil curriculum, perceived curriculum as
... that series of things which children and youth must do and experience by way of develop_ing abiNties to do the things well that make up the affairs of adult life; and to be in all reagents what adults should be 6
Hollis L. Caswell and Deal-, S. Campbell viewed curriculum not as a group of courses but as "all the experiences children have under the guidance of teachers."' Ralph W. Tyler s writings pointed the way to "educational objectives" that "represent the kinds of changes in behavior that an educational institution seeks 'o bring about in its students.` Hilda Taba, in a discussion of cri_teria for providing sets of learning opportunities for curriculum development, said, "A curricu_lam is a plan for learning."' She defined curriculum by listing its elements. Taba explained that every curriculum globally contains common elements, such as goals and objectives, and distinct content selections and organizational approaches that inform styles of learning, and '_-aching, concluding with an assessment methodology to determine whether the objectives werc. met."'
A different approach to defining curriculum was taken by Robert M Gagne, M ho vvovc together subject matter (content), the statement of ends (terminal objectives), sequencing, of con_tent, and preassessment of entry skills required of students when they begin the study of the
content." Mauritz Johnson, Jr., agreed basically with Gagne when he defined curriculum as a "structured series of intended learning outcomes."" Johnson perceived curriculum as "the output of a 'curriculum development system' and as an input into an 'instructional system."'"
Albert 1. Oliver equated curriculum with the educational program and divided it into four basic elements: "(1) the program of studies, (2) the program of experiences, (3) the program of services, and (4) the hidden curriculum."" The programs of studies, experiences, and services are readily apparent. To these elements Oliver has added the concept of a hidden curriculum, which encompasses values promoted by the school, differing emphases given by different teach_ers within the same subject areas, the degree of enthusiasm of teachers, and the physical and social climate of the school.
1. Galen Saylor, William M. Alexander, and Arthur J. Lewis offered this definition: "We de_fine curriculum as a plaa for providing sets of learning opportunities for persons to he educated.""
As the years progress you will notice a broadening of some conceptions of the school Curriculum. Geneva Gay, writing on desegregating the curriculum, offered a more expansive interpretation of curriculum:
If we are to achieve equally, we must broaden our conception to include the entire culture of the school—not just subject matter coment.`
Expressing the view that the word "`curriculum' has come to mean only a course of study," D. Jean Ckinchnin and F. Michael Connelly held curriculu