The Child and the Curriculum

John Dewey examines the gap between a child's everyday experience and the organized subjects taught at school. Geography, arithmetic and grammar divide knowledge into separate fields, while children encounter their surroundings through personal interests, relationships and activity. This educational essay questions the habit of treating the learner and the course of study as opposing forces, each demanding loyalty at the other's expense.

Dewey also challenges the assumption that children can develop new understanding without suitable materials or guidance. He argues for teaching that connects their present experience with the wider knowledge adults possess. An explorer's notes and a finished map provide his comparison for the relationship between learning as it happens and knowledge arranged after discovery. Teachers, parents and readers interested in educational philosophy will find a focused argument about how subject knowledge and attention to the individual child can inform the same classroom practice.