Systematic Studies as Devices for facilitating Evolution of the Curriculum
The effect of this and like radical social changes is sometimes slow in actually modifying the curriculum because of the conservative tendencies discussed in earlier chapters. But the final effect is inevitable. The changing social order carries with it the school and its subjects of instruction.
The characteristic fact about the present generation of progressive educators is that they are undertaking certain studies which are designed to hasten the processes of selection. The curriculum is to be modified and improved, with every new accession of knowledge and with every new evolution in social life. How the improvement can be brought about most expeditiously and most productively is a problem which is engaging much of the attention and energy of school officers.
It will be noted that there is no opposition between the natural tendencies of growth and revision and the special investigations which are intended to hasten the process of adjustment. The purpose of scientific studies here, as in every other sphere, is to facilitate natural evolution and to give it rational guidance.