As important as it is for countries to set up their curriculum systems in response to various societal challenges, the key factor is: how does the curriculum system develop the society that is envisaged? – the society of liberated people who achieve independence in all forms of humanity and ensure their own sustainability. The society of people who have gone through a meaningful and relevant curriculum system should not only secure an easy job but also exhibit the qualities of self-assertion, independent thinking, social constructivism through meaningful contributions, sensitivity to human rights and justice, etc. This requires an academically in-depth, robust, liberal and arrogant curriculum system to produce the aforementioned desired society. A curriculum that opposes all normalized trivialities in education is the appropriate curriculum system to develop the envisaged society of independent thinkers. However, one might ask: What kind of curriculum system is this?
A liberal education system is defined by Huchins (1953) as a form of education that enables students to ask basic questions about life, truth, justice and knowledge, and to read the works of people who have given powerful and lasting answers to these questions. If students are taught the truth about the history of their origin, if they are taught about justice, the importance of the pursuit of knowledge and the importance of rebuilding society, etc., then this sounds like a suitable curriculum system for the development of the desired society mentioned above. Schneider (2004) argues that liberal education has always had important educational goals: cultivating intellectual and ethical judgement, helping students understand and negotiate their relationship with the world, and preparing graduates for a life of civic responsibility and leadership. Again, this is a fitting reference to the very reason why curricula exist. When it comes to liberating society and breaking the chains of injustice, systemic slavery, etc., the liberal education curriculum system is second to none for the task.
This revelation calls into question modern curriculum systems such as the South African CAPS curriculum system as to the aims and purposes of the system’s existence. For whom was the CAPS curriculum system established? In the case of the history of this country and its remaining evil apartheid stains, the question is extended to: To what extent is the complete liberation of the previously marginalized guaranteed under the CAPS curriculum system? Is the desired society sustainable and achievable under the CAPS curriculum system? All these questions are part of what the liberal education curriculum system entails – truth, knowledge, leadership, sensitivity to the complete freedom of all, etc. This is in line with Huchins (1953) who argues that schools should develop the thinking capacity of students so that they can examine life critically and lead it intelligently. Therefore, such questions are asked and critical examination of the existing curriculum systems should be ensured to discover the right and wrong and from there take the position of rightness.
Constructive criticism and the provision of alternatives are therefore always justified. For this reason, the personalised curriculum system (PECS) is an alternative to the current CAPS curriculum system. This is inspired by the fact that PECS promises a carefully blended educational ideological method of delivering education in South Africa. Even though other scholars, such as Crittenden (2006), argue that liberal education is contrary to the existence of technical or vocational education, this is where PECS comes in to develop a balanced, blended version of the system in which both coexist with the intention of serving all learners with
different educational hopes and dreams. This is exactly what makes PECS so unique – whatever differences an individual brings to the table, it is taken into account with strict attention to help students achieve their dreams. Crittenden agrees when he says that an essential feature of the liberal education curriculum is the acquisition of a balanced range of intellectual perspectives.
So what makes the curriculum system tied to liberal education a necessity? Life itself in society evolves around the core of liberal education. This is evident when Schnider (2004:8) discusses three defining themes for reinventing liberal education, namely intellectual judgement, social responsibility and inclusive learning. These themes complement the main tenets of liberal education listed by Crittenden (2006:107). Crittenden states that education should be suitable for free and responsible citizens and that education should liberate people from a limited awareness of what is humanly valuable, thus expanding the quality and scope of choice. This also clarifies the foundations on which liberal education is based: It is about the well-being of humanity. Another reason that speaks to the curriculum system tied to liberal education – PECS – is its ability to combine both traditional liberal education and vocational education to produce a rare breed of citizen. This is because PECS, like (Conway 2010:95), believes that vocational education, when properly taught and practiced, is liberating, which ultimately justifies the argument of the liberal education curriculum system considered here.
For this reason, the Personalised Education Curriculum System (PECS) was conceived as a curriculum system based on the foundations of liberal education and focused on rebuilding societies by advocating the total liberation of all forms of humanity through the curriculum system. PECS was developed to be at the forefront of curriculum relevance issues. Just like the birth of postmodernism, PECS is the product of dissatisfaction with the modernist curriculum system in South Africa. PECS is meant to rescue learners from the monstrous curriculum that fails to implement progressivism and provide differentiated learning that suits all learners. Just like progressivism in the past, PECS is a disruptive curriculum system that aims to end the confusion around the inconsistencies of the curriculum. PECS seeks to restore the value and dignity of our education system by making it responsive to the needs of society through the liberal education based curriculum system. PECS aims to give students the opportunity to gain an insight into the world of work during their school years. This makes PECS unique and highly relevant in inspiring the education community of our country, South Africa and Africa as a whole. And we believe that the education system can be improved in this way.
Know more about PECS: https://simnandisolutions.co.za/personalized-education/
Please answer these 3 questions and submit them:https://simnandisolutions.co.za/pecs.
– Questionnaires
Cite this publication: XABA, S.S. (2023). The liberal education based curriculum system. https://simnandisolutions.co.za/post/.
Bibliography
Conway, D. 2010. Formative themes in the reinvention of liberal learning. Civitas: London. Schneider, C. 2004.Practicing Liberal Education: Formative Themes in the
Reinvention of Liberal Learning.http://files.eric.ed.gov. Date of Access: 18 May 2023.