We shape our buildings and afterwards we our buildings shape us," said Winston Churchill. Had the noted statesman been a noted educator, he might have rephrased this epigram, substituting curriculum for buildings, for what children learning in school today will affect the kind of adults they will become and the kind of society they will eventually create"(Pg.255). Who and what shapes the curriculum of schools will inevitably shape the students. Students need guidance and direction. The curriculum is influenced by great number of factors. Many people have their own personal views on how education should be carried out. The amalgamation of these views is what the education system is based on today. The standpoint held by publishers, teachers, parents, and standardized tests are a few of the influences that shape the curriculum.
Many people disregard the impact that the publisher has on the curriculum of schools. However, the publisher lays the foundation on which learning is built. They are a highly influential factor in shaping curriculum. If a publisher produces a text that students cannot comprehend then they have failed to positively influence education. On the other hand, creating textbooks that are unsophisticated discourages in depth thinking and learning. For example, "under pressure to publish books that have appropriate readability levels, publishers and authors "dumb down" textbooks. Substituting simplified, shorter words and phrases for more complex ones may result in books which sophisticated ideas are simplified into meaningless one"(Pg.290). Children will by no means be challenged if publishers continue to neglect the needs of the students continue to provide for the average consumer.
Teachers build a curriculum based on the text that publishers produced. They reinforce the important aspects of the text. In addition, they incorporate their own interpretation in order to satisfy the different learning styles and levels of understanding of the students. "They also may serve on textbook selection committees that determine what texts the school will purchase, or they may actually work on writing s district's curriculum"(Pg.257). It is critical for a teacher to be able to effectively teach the text in a way that students can fully comprehend it. Without the teacher's ability to execute the lessons in the textbook, the curriculum would be ineffective.
The parents of students like to be involved in their child's education. When a parent disagrees with the curriculum being provided or the academic performance of their child, it is almost certain that a parent will speak up. "They might advocate for more rigorous academic courses, concerned about poor student performance on standardized tests, or they may desire more practical vocational training, such as an increase in computer science courses"(Pg.257). Whenever the concern or question correlates to the curriculum, a parent will eventually become involved.
Standardized tests are not only a concern of parents, but teachers and students too. Statewide testing has contributed to shaping the curriculum and what is taught in schools. "Most Americans believe that the use of nationals standards will enhance the learning level. However, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, concern arose regarding performance standards"(Pg.289). The use of standardized test takes away from the fundamentals of teaching. Today, standardized tests have a great deal of impact on the way a curriculum is shaped, yet that seems to becoming the main focus for schools. "Many schools and teachers "teach to test," at the cost of curriculum topics which are not tested. Some schools even teach strategies and tricks to increase test scores. In response, groups of students, teachers, and parents have protested and even boycotted some of these exams"(Pg.289). Taking the focus off learning the curriculum and placing it on teaching test-taking strategies doesn't seem to accomplish the objective of education.
From publishers to parents the curriculum is influenced by a number of factors. Publishers lay the foundation on which teachers build the curriculum on. From there it is up to the teacher to produce or shape well-rounded, educated students. When this goal isn't met, then changes often need to be made in the curriculum. From there, it seems like the parent steps in to use their power to influence the curriculum. Furthermore, the curriculum is highly influenced by standardized testing. In fact, "The second Bush administration advocated for placing the spotlight on school performance and student scores, work to improve performance in low achieving schools while rewarding schools that demonstrate test score improvements"(Pg.263). "The standards movement began to cast an ominous shadow, as teachers, principals, parents, and students felt the burden of high-stakes test pressure"(Pg.263). The focus of the education curriculum needs to remain on educating rather than test performance. Theodore Sizer believes assessing a child's ability to accomplish something, proves greater than their ability to pass a test, which is exactly true.
-- Sasha Morello, Florida Atlantic University