What Knowledge is Worth Knowing?

Teachers should know what we ultimately want our students to know when leaving our classroom. But how do we decide what our students need to know? Will we decided it by what they need to interact with the world around them? Will we have them learn about our history and literature that is from our past because that is what we believe is important to know? Will we have a mixture of the past and present? What content or curriculum is important for students to know?

Knowledge of most worth is what is important to your students' interests. Curriculum should be centered around trust and the student's importance before focusing on the real curriculum in schools. It is content that has value to the students both as a whole and individually. It is what's relevant to the student's lives, including their interests and their experiences. It is also having them making connections to the world around them. We should have a child-centered curriculum.

Education shouldn't have a "norm" of what is taught. It should be student-centered curriculum. Teachers should look at the students within their class to see what interests them and what curriculum would most benefit those interests. If a student is really interested in learning about World War 1 and 2 why should we stop that curiosity? We shouldn't stop that just because the "curriculum" says we need to talk about something else.  Or if the whole class is really interested in the frogs in the pond why pause that intrigue and talk about rocks? There is a part in "Letters to a Young Teacher" when Kozol talks about a teacher he talked to one day. This teacher noticed one of his students staring out the window. Instead of becoming angry and asking the student to pay attention to what they were discussing the teacher instead went over to see what the student was intrigued by. The teacher and the student then just discussed what was outside the window and what was so intriguing to the student. This teacher realized that what was worth knowing in that moment was about what was outside of the classroom. The teacher didn't force the student to loose that sense of intrigue with the world. What is worth knowing should be what intrigues students. What makes them wonder about the world and what makes them want to learn more.

Students should also be exposed to the "greats" in literature and other subjects, but that shouldn't be all that they are exposed to. Students need to know our past, present, and future. They should see the "greats" in literature because it is important to see how literature was back then as well as see the content of the literature. it is interesting to see how some literature can still have parallels and be relevant to the world today. However it is also important to see what is happening now and what literature is going around in the present day. A good mixture of literature from all time periods will make the students more well-rounded and have a better overall understanding of literature as a whole, because they have the experiences with different kinds of literature. This of course can be said about the other subjects as well.