Pragmatists' Curriculum and Aims of Education

Pragmatists advocate that the curriculum should be made as broad and varied ad possible to take care of the many abilities of the individual. But their approach to it I that of pulling all knowledge gained from diverse areas together to solve life problems. They oppose the traditional method of dividing knowledge into separate subjects like geography, history, physics, biology, and chemistry among others. In their opinion, this arrangement separated the facts learnt from the child's real life experiences.

Pragmatists are generally in favour of problem-centered curriculum - the core curriculum, the project methods and the problems approaches. These approaches usually begin with a central question, core, or problem. Students then tackle the problem in different ways according to their interests, needs, and experiences.

They may work in groups or individually and they draw information and ideas from many sources - books, periodicals, field trips, individual or community resources, among others. They extract all relevant facts to their problems, draw conclusions and construct suitable generalization. In fact, the curriculum and the methods are tied up together.

Pragmatists' Aims of Education
Dewey, a leading pragmatist says that the aim of education is growth. By this, he means that education is to help the child grow in his experience and to direct future experiences in a meaningful way. Another aim of education is for the development of civilized social life in the society. Dewey says that civilized society exists because education is transmitted from generation to generation. Without this, social life cannot exist.

Education should therefore not be seen as merely acquiring knowledge but as part of life itself. Education is life and not a preparation for life. So, the children should not be passive learners but active learners who are capable of doing taking part in and directing their own affairs.