Blog #6-In response to Grant Wiggins' article, "Everything you know about curriculum may be wrong. Really."

I think the line,"All I know is that I don't know nothin'..." from the Operation Ivy tune , "Knowledge" describes at least in part what Grant Wiggins is wanting conventional writers of curricula(specifically K-12) to admit to. By listing example philosophies of famous scholars and educators alike, and using various analogies he takes a strong position in favor of curriculum reform.

In brief, he says the end goals of both traditional and non-traditional curricula are the same: to help us improve as people and live better in this ever-changing world. Unfortunately, the conventional curriculum is unsuccessful in doing so.  He indicates that kids are bored and have no attention spans. He proposes the idea of a backward approach to learning, performance followed by knowledge as opposed to the traditional knowledge followed by performance. He compares his and others' philosophy to sports calling the curriculum the 'game'. You can't 'know' the game without actually playing and learning from experience. In contrast, conventional curriculum would propose that learning the rules and different plays beforehand are enough to know how to play. Similarly, he describes learning in the conventional curriculum as requiring a "didactic march through content." But then notes that if this is true, "why are movies and stories so memorable?"

I like what Wiggins has to say about curriculum reform.  I think what he says certainly holds true in real life. I just think of a friend of mine who graduated with honors with an arts degree. Like many people though who decided to change their career path, he went to learn a trade. He had a lot of knowledge in his head after university but wasn't really sure where to go with it. So, he chose to change his path, and finds it very fulfilling both socially and economically. Kids don't have much of a choice of what or how to learn in the conventional learning environment. Maybe we should be giving them more choices, and chances to learn hands-on and cooperate and create with their peers at an earlier age instead of just letting them memorize dates and the like. Perhaps it would help them figure out their personal strengths, weaknesses and passions earlier on in life. This would help them be better prepared for real life challenges and confrontations, and just better off socially.