Topic: Change

10-Second Review: Look for the positives in today’s constraints and problems.

Title: “The Curriculum of Today: A Foreshadowing of Tomorrow.” Mescal Messmore. English Journal (April 1974), 37-41. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary: The author makes the point that although elective programs have been shown to have significant problems, we should not, therefore, simply dismiss elective programs as one big mistake. We should not throw the baby out with the bathwater. We should look at what has been gained from elective programs in teaching English and build on or apply the positive characteristics to future variations in the English curriculum.

Comment: There’s wisdom in this article. Things look pretty bleak in today’s world of English with emphasis on major testing and the problems with No Child Left Behind (NCLB). We need to look at what good has come from trying to deal with these problems and build what is good into the next generation of the English curriculum. RayS.

The purpose of this blog is to summarize articles on teaching English/language arts, from kindergarten through college, published in English education journals from the past.