Essay
Stenhouse’s notion of ‘public traditions’ imbedded in school subjects
- Course
- EST10A3
- Institution
- University Of Johannesburg (UJ)
A two page essay on the topic for exam preparation
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Discuss Stenhouse’s notion of ‘public traditions’ imbedded in school subjects. Indicate howthese public traditions lead to a reformed ‘whole’ educated man. Comment on whether the
‘public traditions’ taught in school are Afrocentric or Eurocentric.
Peters argues that an educated man is one who has mastery of some skill, does not only
possess mere knowledge but also understanding of his discipline, understands principles and is
someone who has undergone conform and reform to become a better man, thus he has a
transformed outlook on life and his perceptions of the world and who can transfer this
knowledge to other individual in such a way that they can comprehend it and it transforms their
lives. Therefore, this essay will first discuss Stenhouse’s notion of a teacher, secondly it will
address how ‘public traditions’ result in a reformed individual and lastly it will interrogate the
nature of these public traditions being either Afrocentric or Eurocentric.
Stenhouse’s notion of a teacher investigates the purpose of the school in education and comes
to a conclusion that the school is tasked with the role to provide its learners with a
commonwealth of knowledge and skills that is already possessed by other individuals within
society. Subsequently, Stenhouse further elaborates that these bodies of knowledge can be
seen as ‘society’s intellectual, emotional and technical capital’, this capital is what is known a
‘public tradition’ and is utilized by the school to achieve the process of education. The idea of
public tradition is a direct link to culture to which is best explained by Tylor as ‘that complex
whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, laws, customs and other capabilities’. Thus,
education allows one to gain an entry of knowledge into a world of cultures that are not naturally
known to one. It is the role of the teacher to transmit this knowledge rather than manufacture it
as culture is transmitted, learned and shared. However, the conflict that then arises in this
situation of education via social interaction is the question as to what culture of morals, values,
standards, language, traditions and heritage is transmitted from one generation to the next.
Stenhouse therefore claims that this knowledge originates externally from the school resulting in
the content of education being influenced by the dominant disciplines, meaning those
individuals who already possess knowledge and seek to acquire further knowledge. As they
develop the knowledge and investigate this content it can be agreed that it is not the school that
possesses the knowledge because these bodies of knowledge are found outside of the school.
The content can then be investigated as the knowledge is highly influenced by those
heterogenous groups as it is impossible for learning institutes to provide accommodation to
support every sub culture within the society, thus, the school and curriculum is agreed to be
very selective of the content is transfers. This means that the knowledge cannot be considered
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