CurriCulum

R a d i c a l C u r r i c u l u m ■ 1 0 3politics into their classrooms, but that portion of the teachingpopulation has always been small. Most teachers prefer toremain neutral or avoid politics altogether.Beyond the points that curriculum should serve a largerpurpose, that teachers should take charge of curriculum,and that the moral and intellectual aspects of curriculumcannot be separated, Counts has little to say about eitherthe content of curriculum or the curriculum-making process.We can extrapolate from Counts’s vision, nonetheless,and presume that once the economic revolution has takenplace, the new political regime will set up a structured, evensystematic curriculum that will reinforce the moral andpolitical views that Counts has in mind. Because Countsconcentrates so much on fomenting revolution, however,he dedicates no time whatsoever to the postrevolutionaryworld. This lack of attention to the world beyond revolutionis a weakness in the radical view that is explored toward theend of this chapter; first, however, a closer look at one additionalfigure helps us to see how the radical perspective risesand falls with the times.A radical viewof curriculum isattractive to somepeople because,unlike the systematicor the existentialistview, it offersa social and moralvision of whatsociety ought tolook like.Harold Rugg and Radical Social Studies CurriculumThe final figure to be discussed in this chapter is Harold Rugg.Rugg began his career as an engineer, completing undergraduateand master’s degrees at Dartmouth University in 1905and 1906, respectively. After working for a railroad companyand then teaching engineering courses for a short time (hismaster’s degree was in civil engineering), Rugg became interestedin the new science of education that was developing inthe early years of the twentieth century. After completing hisPhD in educational psychology at the University of Illinoisin 1915, Rugg began a career as an educational testing expertat the University of Chicago. He left the University of Chicagoafter four years, however, to join the star-studded facultyat Columbia’s Teachers College. While at Teachers College,Rugg left his interests in testing and engineering to focuson the new field of “social studies” that sought to integratethe traditional subjects of economics, history, political science,and geography. Rugg also became increasingly interestedin how society could be radically transformed if educatorswould begin to reconstruct the curriculum, especiallythe social studies curriculum, based on a “progressive” visionof society. 41