Curriculum

Curriculum

Prof Melendez
Universidad Ana G. Mendez
Carlos Rosado

Curriculum
Curriculum in most countries emanates from the national government, but inthe United States control of public school curriculum resides with the states, and in practice a lot of the responsibility for developing curriculum is delegated to local school districts. In anofficial sense, then, in the United States it is not possible to speak of a national curriculum. If multiplicity with respect to what is taught is an obvious fact of life in American schools, however, itis possible to distinguish an American curriculum.
Possibly the most influence on curriculum is a sense of what is proper to teach, which in the United States has habitually been drawn from theWestern intellectual tradition, which means such subjects as mathematics, history, English language and literature, and science. Such traditional subjects are frequently supplemented by subjects thatreflect national concerns. For example, the United States is unique in including driver education in the high school curriculum. Other subjects that reflect national concerns, such as sexuallytransmitted diseases, race relations, alcoholism, drug abuse, and unwanted pregnancies, frequently find their system into the curriculum of U.S. schools. In fact, this sheer wideness of courses has oftenbeen a source of considerable debate, with some critics charging that schools are undertaking responsibilities they cannot successfully address or are offering courses that in some sense interfere on theresponsibilities of other social institutions such as the family. In education, a core curriculum is a curriculum, or course of study, which is deemed central and usually made mandatory for allstudents of a school or school system. However, this is not always the case. For example, a school might mandate a music appreciation class, but students may have option out if they take a performing...