Curriculum and Society Reflection

Curriculum and Society: Rethinking the Link Author(s): Alicia de Alba Source: International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft / Revue Internationale de l'Education, Vol. 45, No. 5/6, Education, Equity and Transformation (Nov., 1999), pp. 479-490

I did not find it easy to understand the hypothesis of this article. I will attempt to explain my general understanding of the author’s point and also illuminate the portions which I did not fully grasp.
I believe the author was seeking to illustrate the connection between curriculum and society. In terms of the history of American public education, the curriculum has always been a reflection of what society values. In the past less emphasis was placed on math and science, until the Russians launched Sputnik. Suddenly society valued the sciences more greatly and public school curriculums reflected this shift. More recently, I have witnessed the shift toward greater accountability as measured by standardized test scores. I think this reflects our society valuing an emphasis on achievement which can be measured and demonstrated.
The author states that society is retreating from grand projects and instead curriculum is influenced by traits and contours. My interpretation is that society is less single-minded now than in the past. Some might describe this as the era of political correctness, but dissenting and opposing views are more acceptable now than ever. In society today it is “unacceptable” to discount or demean opinions which differ from our own. For example, the curriculum for a health class in the past was without dispute. The values of society with respect to sex education were more universal. The “grand project” was to teach abstinence until marriage and other societal values. Now, more than ever, there are multiple views of marriage. There is no “grand project” to connect the curriculum to; instead the local traits of society are more influential. This concept can be expanded to other curricula where it can be said that the global vision provided by the immediacy of knowledge accessed on the internet makes a grand, social project obsolete. Curriculum is more fluid and reactive to the culture it is intended to educate.