Abstract
In 1989, President Bush convened his Cabinet with all the nation’s Governors at a high-profile national education summit. Their agenda was a challenge to American power and prosperity: “the failure of US schools to teach the basic skills needed to keep Americans productive and competitive” (Time Magazine,October 9, 1989:60). These leaders reached substantial agreement on how to reform public school curricula—the knowledge, skills, and attitudes taught—to correct that failure. Their agreement took the form of national goals that answer our title questions. Their answer to “Teach What?” was to prescribe five academic subjects: English, mathematics, science, history and geography. Their answer to “To Whom?” was all American children through high school. Their answer to “Why?” was to raise the skills of citizens and workers to compete in the global economy.
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Ranson, B. (2003). Toward Developmental Curriculum Reform: Teach What? To Whom? Why?. In: Tool, M.R., Bush, P.D. (eds) Institutional Analysis and Economic Policy. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0261-6_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0261-6_12
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