John Franklin Bobbitt

John Franklin Bobbit was a representative of the efficiency minded thinkers and specialized in the field of the curriculum. In 1918, the year that Bobbitt wrote "The Curriculum: a summary of the development concerning the theory of the curriculum", this became an official specialization in the education sciences. The entrance point of a curriculum was, according Bobbitt, to see which results have to be accomplished.

After the publication of his article "Elimination of Waste in Education" in 1912 his career as a curriculum leader was launched. A significant part in this article was about a school in Gary. This particular school used their building really efficiently. During school hours this building was hundred percent occupied, instead of the usual fifty.

The optimal use of the plant was one of the four principles on which an effective school must be based. Three of them (inclusive the optimal use of the plant) where basically administrative. But, in the forth principle, Bobbitt applied scientific management to the field of education. This is best described this quote:

Educate the individual according to his capabilities. This requires that the material of the curriculum be sufficient various to meet the needs of every class of individuals in the community and that the course of training and study be sufficiently flexible that the individual can be given just the things that he needs (Bobbitt, 1912, p. 269).

The curriculum has to adapt to the needs of an individual and to the needs of the new industrial society, people should not be taught what they would never use. They should only learn those skills which were necessary to fulfill their personal tasks. Education was according to Bobbitt primarily a preparation for adulthood and not for childhood or youth. This resulted in an early differentiation in education. Bobbitt also wasn't a patron of coeducation: girls had a very different future than boys, so they didn't need the same sort of education.

Besides a change in the content of the curriculum, Bobbitt was also calling for the elimination of conventional subjects. He preferred subjects that were themselves areas of living, such as citizenship and leisure (p97). Bobbitt also believed that schools were charged to provide society with what it needed as determined by scientific analyses (p100).

Bobbitt realized that there were too many activities (for example related to citizenship, health, spare time, parentship, work related activities and languages) to fit in any curriculum. A part of those activities were well thought by socialization: the so called undirected experiences. This is why the curriculum has to aim at the particular subjects that are not sufficiency learned as a result of normal socialization, these subjects were called the directed experiences and were well thought by socialization: the so called undirected experiences. That's why the curriculum has to aim at the particular subjects that are not sufficiency learned as a result of normal socialization, these subjects were called the directed experiences and were described as shortcomings.

References

H. M. Kliebard, "The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 1893-1958"

External links

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