Blog Post #2

The Tyler approach to education: Response to Smith- Curriculum theory and practice

Ralph W. Tyler has made quite an impression on the structure of curriculum. His theory is based on four fundamental questions. These questions are based on purpose of education, the experiences that can be completed to obtain education, the organization of these experiences, and finding an efficient way to measure if these set purposes are being attained. Throughout my schooling experience, there have definitely been classes where this method seemed to be incorporated. High school language arts is a class that comes to mind that fits well with this criteria for curriculum. Literacy is a mandatory subject area in most schools. It often has a clear purpose of guiding and supporting students to competency in the English language. The class is often organized into sections of reading and writing. There are certain mandatory aspects of the curriculum such as studying a Shakespeare play. There are many ways to test for proficiency in this subject area as well, the main way in high school level English classes being essays, as this is a way to measure writing skills as well as the ability to comprehend, think critically, and to respond to a connecting article/novel/text.

I think a major limitation of Tyler’s theory is that it is very “black and white” and does not allow for any “grey” areas in education. Although I believe it is important to correspond with the set curriculum and ensure that student’s progress is measured, I also believe it is important to keep education creative and fun. I believe that we should not drill memorization for the single reason of testing onto our students. I think we should teach our students that education is more than just a molding process. That the goal of education is to become critical thinkers, which might often mean that they are questioning why they are being taught the set criteria. I think it is important to approach curriculum in a more holistic way as a means to truly engage and educate our students.