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Rating: 
Summary: An Interesting, but Hard Text
Review: The Struggle for the American Curriculum is a historical exploration of the changes that occurred in American education. It deals with reforms and the philosophies with gave curriculum its shape. In this book, Herbert M. Kliebard seeks to present a fair and balanced recount of the people and events, who and which fashioned the course of education during first fifty or so years of the twentieth century. In many ways, it is Kliebard's "search for progressive education."The Struggle for the American Curriculum is a historical overview of pretty much the first fifty years of curriculum formation and philosophy in the 1900s. There are two aspects worth highlighting about this book. One is its comprehensive historical account of the development of curriculum theory and the other is Kliebard's special attention to "progressive education." The historical overview is very comprehensive as mentioned before. Every major "player" of curriculum and education theory is explored and discussed. For instance, John Dewey is significantly and appropriately studied. His curriculum and its impact is given its full due. Not only is Dewey examined, but also Eliot, the Committee of Ten, and so forth. This book also shows how different movements and reforms, such as social Meliorism and vocationalism, took shape, reached their peaks, and eventually took its place in the educational curricular mosaic. Yet, most interesting is Kliebard's last chapter on "progressive education." This seems to be his own interpretation in the curriculum debate. The author cites Cremin in defining "progressive education." It is expanding schooling to health and occupational competence, the application of scientific research for teaching purposes, and customizing instruction for the different types of students. Yet, this is only a definition. Kliebard is interested in "cleaning up" what progressive education is. He is keenly aware of the struggle for each philosophy and theory to become the definition. It is the subject of his book and the struggle which continues today. Overall, Kliebard's book is a very tedious work that is very hard to get into. The way he portrays the evolution of curricular thought is very detailed and hard to follow for a beginning student of curriculum design. Kliebard does not make good use of primary sources. One may wish that he provided more samples of the original work of figures such as Dewey. There are no tables, charts, or diagrams to help comprehend the various views and movements. In this way, the book is somewhat hard to follow. This is the overall weakness. Yet, Kliebard does a fine job in presenting all the views, movements, and people who impacted curriculum design. His attention to detail is admirable and helps a beginner become acquainted with the humanists, child-study people, the social efficiency educators, and social meliorists. Indeed, this book is very helpful in this fashion. Once can also appreciate Kliebard's fair treatment of all the views and influential figures of curriculum. In fact, it is not apparent which side he takes. He raises the strengths and weaknesses of each viewpoint in an equal manner. Therefore, he depicts the "struggle" for the American curriculum in a very succinct fashion. Kliebard does an admirable job in representing the facts in a straightforward and seemingly unbiased manner.
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