THE GROWTH OF THE CURRICULUM [I
The demands upon education of discoveries in scienqfr?
and technology are obvious enough. No less real are those"
of a society which, in moving towards a more complete
democracy by the wider diffusion of power and wealth,
puts an ever-growing responsibility upon the wisdom and
the sense of obligation of die ordinary man and woman.
These demands will not be met simply by administrative
adjustments or improved techniques of teaching, important
though they are. One is surely justified in believing that
there must be some subjects more relevant than others to
the new and particular problems of our time.
Those concerned with education have a most pressing
obligation, therefore, to scrutinize constantly the actual
content of their teaching, so that it may be adequate for
tasks that are always changing as society itself changes.
The responsibility is all the greater when it is realized that
the relation of society and education is a very complex
one. For not only is education modified by its social
background; it is one of the principal agencies for
modifying society. Its function is not only to produce the
kind of citizens that the community demands, in terms
of intellectual and technical and moral equipment. It is
also concerned to ensure that the community shall be of
such a nature that it demands the right kind of citizens.
It must resist both the temptation to respond too hastily
to the pressure of economic needs rather than to a steady
vision of what education and society should be and, on
the other hand, the tendency to ignore the claims of a
changing environment, and to remain isolated in an
unreasoning traditionalism.
We may see some of the contemporary difficulties and
confusions concerning the curriculum exemplified in the