School Knowledge for the Masses

The book presents quantitative data on national primary curricular emphases for large numbers of countries going back to about 1920. It shows that these curricular outlines tend to be rather similar across very disparate sorts of countries, and suggests world processes that have produced this result. Particular chapters show that the contemporary curriculum dates from changes late in the 19th century; that there has been a general shift toward a "social studies" subject; that instruction in mathematics and especially science has tended to expand, that there have been substantial increases in foreign language instruction (and changes in the languages taught); and that instruction in the arts and physical education came to the standard world educational model rather later than other subjects. It is aimed at educationalists, policy makers, education historians, education researchers and students in the fields of education and politics.