Curriculum of Forest School

Once upon a time the animals in the forest decided to start a school. They agreed that

the curriculum should include the following subjects: swimming, hopping, climbing,

running, flying, digging and slithering. All animals were required to take all subjects.

Everything went on well until the third day when the principal, Wise Old Owl,

noticed some disturbing trends. For example, the rabbits were excelling in hopping

but performed poorly in flying tests. The cheetahs were scoring A’s in running but

were getting D’s in digging. The ducks were getting straight A’s in swimming but

were failing in the slithering course. The snakes easily got A’s in slithering but had

difficulty flying.

An emergency staff meeting was held among the teachers to find out whether it was

due to poor teaching or was a curriculum problem. It was agreed that the teachers

were good and dedicated to practising research-based instructional strategies.

Professor Lion from Forest State University was called in as a consultant. He

discovered that the problem was not due to poor teaching but rather the low level of

curriculum utility. He pointed out that ducks really do not need to know how to slither

and cheetahs should not be forced to learn digging skills. Neither should the snakes be

asked to take flying classes.

Prof. Lion concluded that animals were forced to learn skills that were not relevant to

their situations. However, there are certain skills every animal needs to know such as

finding food and water. He proposed that the curriculum be revised to include

instruction in generic skills such as food acquisition principles and social skills. But

animals were allowed to specialise in subjects most applicable to their species (e.g.

swimming, running). The animals all rejoiced when the recommendations were

implemented and shouted “Now this is a useful curriculum”.

[Source: Adaptation of L. F. Buscaglia (1972), Love. Thorofare, NJ: C.B. Slack, cited in R.

Burks, A theory of secondary curriculum utility, 1998.

www.randallburks.com/curriculum.htm]