The Evolution of Curriculum in Post-Secondary Education
Throughout the 1700s, nine colleges (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, William and Mary, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers, Brown, and Columbia) were founded throughout the thirteen original colonies for religious purposes. While each of these colleges were either secular or had different religious denominations, all of these colleges had their curriculum modeled after that in the English college system. This curriculum included instruction in subjects such as grammar, rhetoric, astronomy, arithmetic, philosophy, and Greek and Latin. But after the American Revolution and onward, the American colleges began to change their curriculum models. For example, the introduction of languages, more emphasis on science, and vocational courses were introduced in colleges across the country. Some of these changes, such as remedial courses and other educational resources were used to help students do work on a college level. In conclusion, college curriculum will continue to change to match the college and career readiness skills of students. …show more content…
For example, the original curriculum at Cambridge was divided into three groups: philosophy (moral, natural, mental), quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music), and trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic). In order to obtain a degree there, students had to know philosophy, rhetoric, and logic and had to test their knowledge of them in front of a public disputation. However, the Cambridge curriculum changed because the students were assigned in groups of four or five with a tutor, who decided what they studied. Although some of the thirteen original colonies were founded to escape religious persecution in Britain, the colonies still tried to model their societies like those in Britain, such as the English college
Throughout the 1700s, nine colleges (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, William and Mary, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers, Brown, and Columbia) were founded throughout the thirteen original colonies for religious purposes. While each of these colleges were either secular or had different religious denominations, all of these colleges had their curriculum modeled after that in the English college system. This curriculum included instruction in subjects such as grammar, rhetoric, astronomy, arithmetic, philosophy, and Greek and Latin. But after the American Revolution and onward, the American colleges began to change their curriculum models. For example, the introduction of languages, more emphasis on science, and vocational courses were introduced in colleges across the country. Some of these changes, such as remedial courses and other educational resources were used to help students do work on a college level. In conclusion, college curriculum will continue to change to match the college and career readiness skills of students. …show more content…
For example, the original curriculum at Cambridge was divided into three groups: philosophy (moral, natural, mental), quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music), and trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic). In order to obtain a degree there, students had to know philosophy, rhetoric, and logic and had to test their knowledge of them in front of a public disputation. However, the Cambridge curriculum changed because the students were assigned in groups of four or five with a tutor, who decided what they studied. Although some of the thirteen original colonies were founded to escape religious persecution in Britain, the colonies still tried to model their societies like those in Britain, such as the English college