Home



At the beginning of The Saber-Tooth Curriculum, Raymond Wayne encounters his old college professor, Dr. Peddiwell, at the "longest bar in the world" (p. 3) in Tijuana, Mexico. As the two enjoy many [|Tequila Daisies.pdf] (recipe found here: How to make a Tequila Daisy) together, Dr. Peddiwell proposes a seminar in the “history of paleolithic education” (p.21). In order to start on the same page, having an understanding of the history of education in America is necessary. The following series of you tube videos effectively describes and evaluates the history of education in America: 1. @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhclWco8fA8 2. @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeJJvtMx1-M&feature=related 3. @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn8NEcmSOJo&feature=related

Dr. Peddiwell begins his seminar by discussing "the first great educational theorist" (p. 24), New-Fist-Hammer-Maker. While watching the children of the tribe, New-Fist wondered, “’If I could only get these children to do the things that will give more and better food, shelter, clothing and security, I would be helping this tribe to have a better life. When the children became grown, they would have more meat to eat, more skins to keep them warm, better caves in which to sleep, and less danger from the striped death with the curving teeth that walks these trails by night... Having set up an educational goal, New-Fist proceeded to construct a curriculum for teaching that goal. ‘What things must we tribesmen know how to do in order to live with full bellies, warm backs, and minds free from fear?’… To answer this question, he ran various activities over in his mind. ‘We have to catch fish with our bare hands in the pool far up the creek beyond that big bend, we have to catch fish with our bare hands in the pool right at the bend. We have to catch them in the same way in the pool just this side of the bend. And so we catch them in the next pool and the next and the next. Always we catch them with our bare hands.’ Thus New-Fist discovered the first subject of the first curriculum – fish-grabbing-with-the-bare-hands.” ‘Also we club the little woolly horses, we club them along the bank of the creek where they come down to drink. We club them in the thickets where they lie down to sleep. We club them in the upland meadow where they graze. Wherever we find them we club them.’ So wooly-horse-clubbing was seen to be the second main subject in the curriculum. ‘And finally, we drive away the saber-tooth tigers with fire, we drive them from our trail with burning branches. We wave firebrands to drive them from our drinking hole. Always we have to drive them away, and always we drive them with fire.’ Thus was discovered the third subject – saber-tooth-tiger-scaring-with-fire.” (p. 28-29). The tribe benefited from the teaching, because the educational curriculum was relevant to making a better lifestyle for the future. The following is an excellent example of educational goals. Even though there isn't one goal that would be considered relevant in today's standards based system, the general idea of setting goals is beautifully displayed: @http://www.anabaptists.org/ras/goal4edu.html. When making up specific instructional goals, there must be planning around the predetermined objectives. Follow the link to "Instructional Goals and Objectives" to view a powerpoint presentation that carefully teaches the mechanics of creating instructional goals and objectives: @http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/b/x/bxb11/Objectives/.

Relevance and making a better lifestyle for the tribe... those were the goals of the educational system. Everything was great... "The tribe prospered and was happy in the possession of adequate meat, skins, and security. It is to be supposed that all would have gone well forever with this good educational system if conditions of life in that community had remained forever the same. But conditions changed, and life which had once been so safe and happy in the cave realm valley became insecure and disturbing.” (p. 33). But what happens when there is a new reality? Education should continue to grow along with every other change, so that it remains relevant and helpful to the people. But that isn't what happened... The conservative members of the tribe thought it was blasphemy to alter the teachings of the core subjects. According to them, that was what people should know, and anyone who disagrees was labeled radical and should keep their mouth shut. This article is the second part of a three part series that reviews the meaning of academic teaching: http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/academic.htm. However, that didn't stop the progressive teachers from trying to further education to be more relevant and beneficial to the tribe. The fight begins between progressive and traditional education: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/mccain/audiohist/intro2.htm.

These "radicals" argued, “’How can any person with good sense be interested in such useless activities? What is the point of trying to catch fish with the bare hands when it just can’t be done any more. How can a boy learn to club horses when there are no horses left to club? And why in hell should children try to scare tigers with fire when the tigers are dead and gone?’” (p.42). @http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2003/sep/26/schools.uk discusses outdated curriculum and the need for relevance. In response to these protests, the conservative members of the tribe insisted that, “The essence of true education is timelessness. It is something that endures through changing conditions like a solid rock standing squarely and firmly in the middle of a raging torrent. You must know that there are some eternal verities, and the saber-tooth curriculum is one of them!” (p. 44). This was the belief that caused the demise of the educational system. They were teaching the core subjects of "fish-grabbing, horse-clubbing, and sabertooth-tiger-scaring-with fire", even though it wasn't anything that they could practice. It was useless knowledge, and the students and teachers knew this. The following site offers many views and much discussion about the decline of education in America: http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/decline1.htm

It can be said that throughout the history of education, “there were progressives and progressives in the past and that the best prediction indicates there will be progressives and progressives in the future. Progressives with new purposes and old machines, progressives with new machines and old purposes, progressives with old machines //and// purposes plus a few new verbalizations to make them less forlorn, and others – others – “ (p. 46). These were the people who fought for what was best for their students, and they made good progress in trying to make school relevant to the children and the tribe. This is what led to the first progressive schools... http://www.uvm.edu/~dewey/articles/proged.html.

The School of Creative Fish-Grabbing and the Real-Tiger School were the two real progressive schools, who tried to make the lessons meaningful to their students. They thought that having hands-on experiences would all the students to be"[|Living what they learn.pdf] and living what they learn" (p. 67). So, the School of Creative Fish-Grabbing emphasized creativity by having the children "get in there and //create// opportunities to catch fish by grabbing. They create the school pool, the school water, and really they create the school fish... The creative part is the heart of the whole movement - just to catch fish - bah! - that's nothing - but to grab fish //creatively// - ah! That is something!" (p. 68). Inspired by this movement, a principal thought that tiger scaring would be more beneficial if they had real tigers to scare. They caged the last two sabertooth tigers, and thus began the [|Real-Tiger School.pdf]. The principal announced that, "to the casual observer, these children may appear just to be waving firebrands at a couple of caged tigers, but to me they are //learning what they live and living what they learn!//" (p. 73). Isn't that the real point of education? Constructivist curriculum promotes understanding by experience, which is the heart of this section. Students need real, relevant experiences in order to really understand what they are learning about. Visualization and imagination can only take them so far. @http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html.

No matter how good any argument is, there is always someone with an opposing viewpoint. Everyone is quick to be a critic... but the most important question, from a teacher's perspective, is how can I help my students? “There was marked dissatisfaction with the traditional school. This dissatisfaction was really directed towards the teachers, for in those days the patrons of the school had the notion that a particular curriculum was really a certain kind of teacher, that a particular system of methods was a certain kind of teacher, and that the whole philosophy of the school was also just a certain kind of teacher. It was a peculiar notion, I admit – unbelievable simple, and all that – but the people had it. Of course they were courteous enough not to //say//, in most cases, that it was the teacher who was at fault. They talked about a better educational philosophy, an improved organization, and all that sort of thing very much as we do today.” (p. 47-48). This site reviews how narrow today’s curriculum is, even in other countries, and how students need to move forward. @http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/outdated-curriculum-is-holding-pupils-back

Another main problem we have is a limited viewpoint. People are so quick to judge and oppose something, but nobody really looks at the big picture. Even in our story, Raymond Wayne has great knowledge about education, but he fails to connect simple ideas to the past. Dr. Peddiwell insists, “No, you don’t see, and the reason you don’t see is because you lack historical perspective and background. You look at our present difficulties and fail to see the relationship between them and the task of education. You don’t remember how clearly that relationship was developed and ignored in Paleolithic times. Why don’t you use the lessons of history?” (p. 94). The following offers 14 papers on historical perspective. @http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED359623&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED359623

But, let's look back at history. Just like today, the economic difficulty is a result of the higher-ups making the big decisions according to their best interests with no real accord as to what is best for the people as a whole... It was simple enough for even a "demented tribesman" to see, even though nobody wanted to listen. He argued that, “’The whole trouble with our economic system lies in those original rules which were figured out by some smart boys at the expense of some dumb boys and then adopted by the chiefs just because the smart boys belonged to their gang. Let’s change those rules… let’s just use our common sense and put everybody back to work on fishing, antelope-snaring, and bear-pit digging and watching. Maybe there are some other things that could be found for us to do. Anyway, let’s all get to work and let’s all eat and wear whatever we can get.’” (p. 107-108). How did they react to this? They "grabbed him and ducked him and held him under water until he promised faithfully to behave himself in the future." (p. 109). And so the tribe continued to fail economically and not make any improvements for their tribe. The government and politics are often the sludge that keeps the educational system from moving beyond what has always been mediocre into something absolutely fantasic: []. This aritcle showcases the role of politics in education.

Throughout the story, we see that the teachers' hands are tied when it comes to creativity in their classrooms, all because the higher up’s make ALL the decisions about what is “good” for their people. The problem is, outside of these radical progressive teachers, nobody (especially the more conservative members of the tribe) seem to realize that they aren't moving forward like other tribes nearby. They dismiss any suggestion of trying something new that will benefit the tribe, and thus make stricter guidelines for what they believe is important. This approach doesn't seem to work well, especially when a scout from a nearby tribe waiting to attack, notes that: “’Well, they [|monkey with the rocks.pdf] in various ways, but they don’t do anything with them for the good of the tribe… Those people over there don’t have any notion of what they want the tribe to become… They do have something they //call// education, but it is just a collection of traditional activities, a machine which they worship for its own sake. The result is pitiful. They have plenty of meat to eat and skins to wear, but they are so uneducated that they don’t know how to distribute food and covering, and consequently many of them are wretchedly fed and clothed. They have a tremendous amount of work to do, yet they are so uneducated that they force many of their people to be idle all the time. They are forever blocked in attempts to better their lives by reason of having only mis-education, pseudo education, in place of real education.’” (p. 135-136). This article sums up the government's role or limiting the government's role in education and looking at the society, as a whole, in reference to the declining state of the American educational system: @http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/usadecline.html. The shift of the community beliefs and needs must be reflected in the educational system in order to maintain relevance and to serve an evolving, ever changing society.

Dr. Peddiwell sums up his seminar by noting that “New-Fist’s tribe started with a system of purposeful education and how that education was degenerated through the years into a system of red-tape, magical culture.” (p. 137). Sound familiar?? Reform in education seems like a round-robin. Every few years we cycle around, changing the face of education from the traditional to the progressive back to the traditional and so on. There have been reforms forever and they will forever continue. The following offers a long list of articles written on reform over the years. @http://www.ecs.org/html/educationIssues/ProgressofReform.asp

A recurring theme throughout the story, from a schools perspective is that, “’We can teach them //how// to think, //not what// to think.” (p.109). This idea is wonderful, and what we want our students to be: free-thinkers. However, the sad part is that it doesn't make much of a difference if we don't allow our students to grow academically and use their knowledge and interests in a way that can benefit the people as a whole. If we stick to a non-relevant core curriculum, it is safe to say that society will have a similar fate as the tribe we read about. This letter to the editor is reflective of the this school of thought. @http://www.magicvalley.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_0a2458f0-64af-5dd2-ba6f-1fc1bce27f2f.html Another article, @http://www.examiner.com/k-12-in-los-angeles/teaching-students-to-think, discusses how people think and the hierarchy of thought. As educators we strive to engage our students on the higher levels rather than just base-line data.