The Texas Standard, Volume 22, Number 1, January-February 1948 Page: 11
19 p. : ill. ; 29 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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TEXAS STANDARD
Curricula and Objectives in Business Education
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Kirven Carter, Wiley College
Frederick J. Weersing gives these
three processes in foundation of curri-
culum making:
(I) The gradual perfection and
maintenance of an effective working
organization of the entire administrative,
supervisory, and teaching staff for the
purpose of curriculum development; or,
more briefly, a constantly improved ad-
ministrative organization for curriculum
development which will include every
person concerned.
(II) The gradual improvement of the
total curriculum framework through
which the school functions, or briefly, the
determination of scope and sequence;
(III) The gradual improvement of
each individual teacher's course organiza-
tion, classroom procedure, and materials
of instruction; or briefly, teacher develop-
ment in harmony with the improved
framework.
The importance of the selection and
organization of curriculum content can
not be stressed too much. And teacher
participation in curriculum building is be-
coming the trend in recent years. The
teachers' participation in curriculum
building consists of two phases; first, the
share of the teacher in determining gen-
eral curriculum policies, framework, and
content; and secondly, the teacher's final
responsibility for interpreting and carry-
ing out these general policies and pro-
visions.
It is well here to consider the fact
that there must be cooperative practices
in curriculum making. There are two
major phases in planning the educational
activities for a school. These are: first
determining the curricula to be offered
and the sequence of subjects to be in-
cluded in each. Second, the course of
study outline or syllabus to be included
in each subject. It is found that these two
phases are closely inter-related as a sub-
ject title in curriculum and mean little
unless the objectives to be attained, the
general nature and the scope of the ma-
terials and activities to be included, and
the relationships to be maintained with
other courses are definitely understood.
Establishment of curricula should de-
pend on aft analysis of several factors,
some of which are: the nature and char-
acter of the community; the opportunities
for employment in local and surrounding
areas; the attitude of business men, com-
munity leaders, and patrons; the size of
the school; and the facilities available.
Too often tradition is the governing prin-
ciple of what courses will be offered, and
at other times copying curricula of other
schools determines the courses which will
be given.
The following general aims are based
upon research studies in the field and
upon consultations with several leaders
in commercial education.
The first aim of any commercial
course must necessarily be the further-
ance of the general aims of education. The
following aims are suggested by the Pro-
gressive Education Association: 1. Social
acceptable behavior; 2. Refinement of our
national culture; 3. Development of desir-
able attitudes; 4. Loyalty to principles; 5.
Respect for our priceless heritage; 6.
Courageous and intelligent citizenship; 7.
Social virtues, such as truth and justice;
8. Poise; 9. The development of a desire
to be self-supporting.
Whether an individual works in a
strictly commercial occupation or in some
other kind of occupation, he must have
a substantial amount of knowledge and
skill concerning business principles and
practices for his own personal use in the
business of every-day living.
Because of the fact most students have
no definite idea as to what they want to
do at the time they enter high school, or
have the ability to do some definite work
when they leave school, it shall be one of
the aims of the commercial course to help
the student discover those things for which
he has an aptitude.
Approximately forty-five percent (the
average for high schools in the United
States, of the high school commercial grad-
uates go directly into commercial occu-
pations immediately after leaving high
school. In order to accommodate this
group and to accommodate those who
find vocational use for commercial train-
ing in non-commercial occupations, due
consideration will be given the vocational
aim of the commercial course.
Because students are too young (aver-
age 18 years), immediately following
graduation from high school, there has
been a lack of opportunity for employ-
ment in the better commercial jobs. This
has caused many students to take further
training in universities and business col-
leges. This training helps students to be-
come more proficient with age and pro-
hibits loss of skill through lack of practice.
Therefore, another aim of the commercial
course is to prepare for higher training.
Every human being is a consumer of
economic goods. Some are able to attain
a much higher standard of living than
others on the same amount of income be-
cause of wise consumption. It is one of
the aims of the commercial course to de-
velop intelligent consumers.
Social change plays quite an impor-
tant role in determining what the objec-
tives of the business curriculum will be
The immediate objectives of the curri-
culum also vary in accordance with social
change. The business curriculum must be
kept adjusted to the changes in business
practice in methods of merchandizing, ac-
counting and secretarial practice. Business
training must be on its toes to the de-
velopments and advances in new business
machines. Many of the changes in activ-
ities and problems of American life must
be recognized and studied, and we should
have this in mind in establishing any kind
of curriculum.
One of the ultimate objectives of busi-
ness education is vocational. It is not the
only objective as was at once thought. In
relating curriculum materials to objec-
tives, one must attempt to break the ulti-
mate vocational objectives up into more
detailed and immediate objectives. There
will be different kinds of positions or
business activities for which preparation
is to be made. Each of these office prac-
tices must be broken down into several
types of activities, as, filing, routine, cor-
respondence, records, taking dictation,
transcribing for notes or recorded dicta-
tion, etc. And each of these is again broken
down into certain areas of information,
and certain types of habits and skills
which are necessary in filing, handling
correspondence, dictation, etc.
Considering various other objectives,
we should remember that the planning of
the business education curriculum should
not be confined only to training used in
economic endeavor. There are the objec-
tives of leisure, of health, of the capacity
for enjoying life, of sound mental health
and personality, to which the contributions
of business are not great, but there are
some valuable contributions made by
them.
It is clearly evident the magnitude
of our task in developing a course of study-
to the objectives of general education,
those of some particular institution, to
those of a given curriculum, of a given
course, of a given unit of instructional
materials, and to do so having in mind
possibilities and needs of the pupil person-
nel with whom it is to be used. The
process is indeed complicated.
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Colored Teachers State Association of Texas. The Texas Standard, Volume 22, Number 1, January-February 1948, periodical, January 1948; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth193747/m1/11/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Prairie View A&M University.