Arts of the Eclectic

What constitutes an effective relationship between theory and practice is contested in education. Curricula based solely on either have proved ineffective in closing the gap between the curriculum guide and the learning moment. Joseph Schwab's unique solution to this problem is arts of the eclectic, whereby educational problems are examined through multiple perspectives instead of a solitary theory. He called this process polyfocal conspectus, which is needed because no single theory from the social sciences, for instance, can explain or define the curricular basis for effective teaching. The use of three or four theories in combination is key to the problem-posing stage of curriculum deliberation, in which the problematic situation is defined in various ways by each theory. The art of discerning the integrated approach that emerges from the various formulations of the situation develops educators' abilities to exploit a range of solutions rather than a simplistic answer.

The curricularist uses arts of eclectic with commonplaces of education and arts of problemation. The commonplaces are common because of their interconnection; they are places whose reality cannot be sidestepped. These essential components of curriculum deliberation are learner, subject matter, teacher (social and cultural milieu), and curriculum making. They are established when scholarship in a subject or field is able to discern what things, concepts, or activities constitute the whole subject of which any one is a part. This is the source of the eclectic choices.

The fit of any given theory on a specific situation is inexact and incomplete, so the theory needs modification by other theories before it is effective. This radical move involves an art, the ability to see which of the possibilities is most likely to combine into an effective view that enables fruitful formulation of the problematic situation.

Schwab believes there are several kinds of eclectic arts. The first engages the incompleteness of each subject of the behavioral sciences. The second selects, adjusts, and combines the incomplete views. These join with practical arts concerned with the real details necessarily omitted by the generalizations of theory. Mutual accommodation develops between principle and case. This commingling of [Page 51]the practical and eclectic arts requires collaboration among experts in the theories who must have deep concern to solve a pressing problem by crossing arbitrary boundaries of their specialties.

Schwab's use of intrapersonal commonplaces was based on extensive study of every theoretician from Plato to Erik Erikson. These involve such factors as reason, desire, social concerns, and the therapist. At Camp Ramah, after a review similar to Practical 2, Schwab asked the directors how the rational ego grows to be healthy and strong under the guidance of another. Freud barely considered this question because he was interested in intra-personal mechanisms that could explain how the id, representing our desires, interacts with the superego, representing our inhibiting social conscience, Freud posited the existence of an autonomous ego to manage these internal interactions but, unlike Plato's Republic, failed to tell us how such an ego can rationally develop. Schwab proposed that the counselors work to expand the young egos, not by therapeutic means, but by bringing energy and pleasure to the camping activities so the campers could develop both social competence and religious connection. This modification solved the problem by joining its practical with its theoretical aspects.

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