Social forces: Present and future

Parkay, F. W., & Hass, G. (2005). Curriculum planning: A contemporary approach (7th Ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. (Chapter 2. Social forces: Present and future, pp. 45-58)
Keywords: social forces, developmental tasks, future planning

Ten contemporary social forces that influence the curriculum

• increasing ethnic and cultural diversity ("melting pot" - "salad bowl")
  
• the environment (pollution, overpopulation, depletion of the ozone layer, ecosystem in peril)
  
• changing values and morality (fluctuating moral standards, drug abuse, teen alcoholism, divorce rate)
  
• the family (spread out over a wide geographical area, not tied to the community; single-parent family, divorce rate, poverty, domestic violence)
  
• the microelectronics revolution (Information Age, computers are not merely tools - expanding capabilities and interactivity, virtual school, digital immigrants vs natives)
  
• the changing world of work (decentralization of work tasks, self-directed learning over a lifetime)
  
• equal rights (women and minority groups more vocal, SES, haves vs have-nots, digital divide, Theoretical Connection - Apple's Remembering Capital)
  
• crime and violence
• lack of purpose and meaning (the fast change of the world led people to feeling disconnected from the society, family, and themselves)
  
• global interdependence (interconnectedness, interdependence, mutual respect, cooperation

Three developmental tasks that effective curricula help learners accomplish (Social forces and the individual)

• Vocation
  People's identities are determined by their occupations (SES)
  
• Citizenship
  A democratic society requires citizens who are prepared to deal with the current issues of government
  
• self-fulfillment
  Each person faces the challenge of achieving self-fulfillment and self-development
  

Three levels of social forces that influence the curriculum

• National/international (equal rights, crime and violence, lack of purpose and meaning, changing world of work, global interdependence, ethnic and cultural diversity, changing values and morality, microelectronics revolution, environment, family)
  
• Local community (community values, students' backgrounds, family structure, class structure)
  
• School culture (traditions, assumptions, teacher's role with staff, learner's social status, school-community harmony or discord, teacher's role in school, beliefs, beliefs)
  

Concepts from the social sciences (sociology, anthropology, social psychology) that help curriculum planners understand the social forces that influence the curriculum

• Humanity (cultural universals)
  organizing element in curriculum planning; particularly needed as the nations become more interdependent and together address problems of pollution, energy and food shortages, and terrorism (go beyond national borders)
  
• Culture (identity)
  the way of life common to a group of people; it represents their way of looking at the world; consists of values, attitudes, and beliefs that influence their behavior.
  
• Enculturation/socialization (enculturating and socializing children)
  immerse in a culture or cultures and learn the partterns of behvior supported by the culture into which he or she was born (learning this first culture)
  
• Subculture (understanding the differences and similarities and be positive about the individual culture)
  a division of a cultural group consisting of persons who have certain characteristics in common while they share some of the major characteristics of the large culture
  
• Cultural pluralism (cultural inclusiveness)
  a variety of ethnic and generational lifestyles, each grounded in a complexity of values, linguistics variations, skin hues, and perhaps even cognitive world views. Each person of different identification is entitled to the respect, dignity, freedom, and citizen rights promised by law and tradition; each group's contribution to the richness of the entire society is validated
  

Futures planning

• Definition: the process of conceptualizing the future as a set of possibilties and then taking steps to create the future we want
• Management of changes is the effort to convert certain possibles into probables, in pursuit of agreed-on preferables
  
  • Probable - a science of futurism
    
  • Possible - an art of futurism
    
  • Preferable -a politics of futurism

Critierion questions related to social forces in curriculum

• individual differences among learners (family/home/community background, subculture)
  
  • What social or cultural factors contribute to individual differences among learners?
  • How can the curriculum provide for these differences
    
• the teaching of values (hidden curriculum)
  
  • What values are we teaching?
  • What values do we wish to teach?
    
• the development of self-understanding (cultural pluralism)
  
  • How can the school program assist learners in achieving their goals of self-understanding and self-realization?
    
• the development of problem-solving skills (clarify problems and develop problem-solving strategies)
  
  • Has the curriculum been planned and organized to assist learners in identifying and clarifying personal and social problems?
  • Does the curriculum help learners acquire the problem-solving skills they will need now and in the future?
  • Does the curriculum include the development of skills in futures planning?
    

Present and future

Hunkins, F. P., & Hammill, P. A. (1994). Beyond Tyler and Taba: Reconceptualizing the curriculum process. Peabody Journal of Education, 69 (3), 4-18.
Keywords: Tyler rationale, Taba, Bobbit, Modernism, Technocrat, postmodernism

Parkay, F. W., & Hass, G. (2005). Curriculum planning: A contemporary approach (7th Ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. (Chapter 2. Social forces: Present and future, pp. 45-58)
Keywords: social forces, developmental tasks, future planning

Cetron, M, & Cetron, K. (2003). A forecast for schools. Educational Leadership, 61 (4).
Keywords: funding, diversity, technology, lifelong learning.

These three articles provide some basic ideas about “where we are” and “where we are headed.”

In this era of rapid social and technological change leading to increasing life complexity and psychological displacement, the educators have to rethink what modern education is and how curricula should be reformed to suit the future needs.

For decades, the modernism-scientistic tradition has been dominating curriculum and curriculum development. Even today, Bobbitt’s curriculum foundation, Ralph Tyler’s four-question rationale, and Hilda Taba’s seven-step model are still the mainstream views regarding curriculum development. However, the newly-emerged challenges, transitions and transformations, as in a post-modernism point of view, have announced that “there is no structure or master narrative in which we can wrap ourselves for comfort.” Education will be at risk if our educators continue to rely on a positivistic certainty in the procedures that Tyler and Taba advocated.

Examining contemporary social forces that influence the curriculum helps curriculum planners to understand the role education can play in shaping a desired future and thus incorporate an unknown future into their work. Among those ten major trends, I think we would draw special attentions to “increasing ethnic and cultural diversity”, “changing values and morality” and “microelectronics revolution”. Based on the understanding of these three fundamental issues, we should be able to deploy futures planning with considering three levels of social forces.

A forecast for schools projected from futurists provided directions for schools by yielding an understanding of societal and economic trends to help schools implement reforms that prepare students more effectively for the changing world. With all those concerns on funding, student population and diversity, technological transformation in the workplace, and needs in lifelong learning, our schools should make early preparations and careful countermeasures in response to the modern, high-tech world with cautious optimism.