Lesson 1: What Good are Schools?

Context
The curriculum in every system of education reflects our different ideals of the human person, of
our communities and of our understanding of knowledge.
This lesson could form a useful introduction to TOK by offering a wider context of reflection on
the total curriculum. It could also provide a conclusion to the course, giving the students an
opportunity to revise and synthesize their learning. Altogether, it offers students ownership of the
TOK course.

Aims
y To identify the ideals or criteria of excellence in individuals and society.
y To consider the nature of sound evidence.
y To analyse critically the components of educational systems.
y To link the power and process of education to the above-mentioned criteria, and to consider
the kinds of knowledge that are valued.

Class Management
y The student handout (from Benjamin Franklin) should be copied and distributed to the class
ahead of time. This is useful as a stimulus.
y Probably, two 45 minute lessons are required. One lesson will give students time to discuss
and record their findings. In the second lesson they will report on and analyse their task.
y The level of education being considered may or may not be restricted to the Diploma
Programme.

Focus Activity
Divide the class into two or three groups. Tell them that they have been elected to the position of
Minister of Education in their country and that they have been given the task of devising the best
possible educational curriculum for the nation. They should be given only two preconditions.
1 Their aim must be to produce the best individuals and the best society possible.
2 They must impart only knowledge and beliefs which are based on sound evidence.

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Student Handout
A useful passage is the following from Benjamin Franklin’s Remarks concerning the Savages of North America.
It is an appealing story, in which many relevant issues are raised to stir students to thought: issues of value
judgments, cultural context, definitions of knowledge, applicability of knowledge.

At the treaty of Lancaster in Pennsylvania, anno 1744, between the government of Virginia and the Six
Nations, the commissioners from Virginia acquainted the Indians [Native Americans] by a speech, that there
was at Williamsburg a College with a fund for educating Indian youth; and if the Chiefs of the Six Nations
would send down half a dozen of their sons to that college, the government would take care that they be
well provided for, and instructed in all the learning of the White People.
The Indians’ spokesman replied:
“We know that you highly esteem the kind of learning taught in those colleges, and that the maintenance of
our young men, while with you, would be very expensive to you. We are convinced, therefore, that you
mean to do us good by your proposal and we thank you heartily.
“But you, who are wise, must know that different nations have different conceptions of things; and you will
not therefore take it amiss, if our ideas of this kind of education happen not to be the same with yours. We
have had some experience of it; several of our young people were formerly brought up at the colleges of
the Northern Provinces; they were instructed in all your sciences; but, when they came back to us, they
were bad runners, ignorant of every means of living in the woods, unable to bear either cold or hunger,
knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, nor kill an enemy, spoke our language imperfectly, were
therefore neither fit for hunters, warriors nor counsellors; they were totally good for nothing.
“We are however not the less obligated by your kind offer, though we decline accepting it, and to show our
grateful sense of it, if the gentlemen of Virginia will send us a dozen of their sons, we will take care of their
education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them.”

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Discussion Questions
Any of the following discussion questions could be extended into a written assignment.
y What are the aims of the education system and the institution of which you are a part? What,
through the aims, are you expected to know?
y What are the ideals of the society that have determined those aims?
y Where did those ideals come from? On what grounds are they justified?
y What conflicts can arise from those ideals?

Teacher Notes
Discussion can be extended to wider contexts by offering the students categories of choice.
y What choices are faced when these ideals (and the conflicts that arise between them) in
practice influence the nature of the curriculum? Some considerations may be:
Theoretical versus practical
Sciences versus arts/humanities
y What status should be given to
‚ moral/ethical education
‚ community service
‚ political education
‚ physical education and sports
‚ arts education and sports?
y How is it decided which of the so-called great works of science, art, literature and morality
are worthy to be passed on in your school or college?
Discussion can be stimulated and extended by introducing regional, religious, cultural and other
considerations.
The IBO ideals and the Diploma Programme curriculum can be critically analysed as a
de-briefing exercise.

Links to Other Areas of TOK

Using the IBO ideals and curriculum as the basic material for this lesson gives it a lasting and
holistic frame of reference for the student.

From Other Times and Places

The handout may easily be replaced by other suitable pieces such as ones by Confucius or Hsun
Tzu, or by Koranic principles or by Australian Aborigine ideals.

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Quotation

Do not judge a man until you have walked ten leagues in his moccasins. Proverb

References
Franklin, B, Remarks concerning the Savages of North America
Bruner, J, The Culture of Education, (1997) Harvard University Press, ISBN 0674179536
Freedman, JO, Idealism and Liberal Education, (1996) University of Michigan Press, ISBN
0472106929
Toffler, A, The Third Wave, (1991) Bantam Books, ISBN 0553246984
The TOK Guide (1999) IBO DR17

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