Worth, What Knowledge is of

In his 1861 book, Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical, Herbert Spencer coined the phrase, “What knowledge is of most worth?” He used it as a chapter title, upon which he developed his Social Darwinist response that argued for knowledge that fosters human self-preservation as the knowledge of most worth. Although Lester Frank Ward, John Dewey, and others who followed to create curriculum studies disagreed profoundly with Spencer's doctrine of survival of the fittest relative to human society and education, his emphasis on knowledge that is most worthwhile persisted as a salient issue of the curriculum field throughout both its curriculum development era (circa 1900 to 1970) and its curriculum studies era (1970 to present).

The question posed by Spencer captured an interest within the long history of speculation by philosophers, theologians, and social theorists about what kind of society is best and how human beings should be educated to develop it. As curriculum theorists developed the question from the early years of the 20th century on, it became modified and refined. Criticism focused on roots of curriculum in colonization, that is, dominant social groups tend to guide curriculum decisions and subaltern or colonized voices are not heard. Such criticism ranged from subaltern voices, such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, and Paulo Freire to those accepted within the curriculum field, such as George Counts, Harold Rugg, Michael Apple, William Pinar, Henry Giroux, Jean Anyon, Linda McNeil, Michelle Fine, Lois Weis, Joe Kincheloe, William Watkins, and Ming Fang He. From varied critiques derived from such sources, a new question emerged to temper the original Spencerian question: Who benefits and who does not? Moreover, the emphasis on most was diminished, remaking the question, “What knowledge is worthwhile?” This diminished the one-best-answer criticized in favor of increased diversity and pluralism. Further, the idea of knowledge itself was perceived by many as a limiting factor in curriculum studies. Thus, emphasis on other dimensions of human and societal growth through education have made the question more robust over the years. Today, it becomes much more inclusive: What is worth knowing, needing, experiencing, doing, being, becoming, overcoming, sharing, contributing, and more?

In essence, the question, stated in its most streamlined form today is, What is worthwhile? It is often argued that this question is the unifying concern of curriculum studies. It can be seen in all of the attempts to summarize or capture the state of the curriculum field, such as in synoptic curriculum texts, at various junctures throughout curriculum history.