What Would Benjamin Franklin's Say, and What Do You Say Educational curriculum - Essay Example

While the United States still retains the world’s most elite university system, the nation has fallen behind in primary and secondary education. Increasingly, foreign nations have moved passed the country in the highly critical areas of math and science. For centuries theorists have considered the best way to structure educational curriculum to meet changing needs. One prominent educational theorist was Benjamin Franklin. This essay considers Franklin’s insights on education and then presents my perspectives on the most appropriate educational curriculum.

Benjamin Franklin prominently examined the most appropriate education in his considerations for the development of an academy in Pennsylvania. From an overarching perspective, Franklin considers that education should function to prepare students for their entrance into the world ("Archives," 2012). Franklin goes on to state that, “if Men …catch such a Taste for cultivating Flowers, Planting, Grafting, Inoculating…why may not we expect they should acquire a Relish for that more useful Culture of young Minds” ("Archives," 2012).

This is a notable statement as it indicates that while Franklin recognizes hobbies are important elements, it is essential that educational curriculum instruction in ‘useful’ skills. ancient customs and morality. . reat amount of emerging research has demonstrated that Montessori school out-perform traditional modes of education ("Research shows benefits," 2006). I believe that one of the major shortcomings of modern educational reform has been an illusionary belief that all students share the same innate abilities.

Through adopting Montessori approaches to education at the primary level teachers, parents, and school systems will better be able to determine the specific interests and abilities the student has and is drawn to. This understanding, rather than the artificial and inflexible public curriculum, can then inform the individual’s further educational experience. After primary education further changes need to be made to the current curriculum in the secondary level. The 21st century has increasingly become integrated with the Internet and social networking.

Many schools have already recognized the importance of integrating social networking platforms such as Facebook, Ning, and Twitter into the regular curriculum (Davis, 2010). I believe that that the Information Age has necessitated that educational curriculum assume a number of profound changes. During Franklin’s time, as evidenced by his strong emphasis on acculturation through instruction in history and ancient customs, there was a great importance for content instruction. Today with the Internet’s emergence as a repository of culture it has become unrealistic to assume that students simply learn a body of history.

Instead I believe that secondary curriculum should increasingly focus on instructing students in the means of navigating this complex cultural landscape. During Franklin’s time the primary modes of cultural dissemination were through books. The 20th century witnessed the emergence of film,