The Corruption of the Curriculum

"Subjects in the school curriculum used to be regarded as discrete areas of knowledge, which would be imparted to pupils by teachers motivated by a love of learning. This has not been enough for recent governments, who see schools as a means of promoting social and political goals that may or may not relate to traditional academic disciplines. This has given us geography as a vehicle for environmentalism; history that neglects major events and personalities; science classes in which pupils discuss global warming without having the knowledge base on which to make an informed judgement; language classes that are supposed to boost international competitiveness but leave the literature and cultures of other countries unexamined; English classes in which the love of language is trumped by the ethnicity and gender of authors; and maths in which basic concepts such as fractions are repeated year after year without ever having enough time to sink in. The contributors to this book argue that we need to return to the traditional view of education as a means of transmitting a body of knowledge from one generation to the next, and that academic rigour and respect for the professionalism of teachers should take precedence over political manipulation of the curriculum."--BOOK JACKET.