D
uring a lecture in 1919 A.E. Sutherland used the term “Academic Corpulence”; he was concerned about the trend to separate the practical parts of education from the theory, because of perceived time constraints.
"The teacher is a better teacher if they are linked up with the experiment station (a place for practical application). No student has made the most of their life who has not come in close touch with the actual work of the station. For teachers to carry out this program, making a successful combination of classroom work and experimentation, or demonstration, the course of study must be reduced to essentials, not only must unimportant subjects be weeded out, but minor details and non-essential portions must be eliminated from those subjects that are retained. This will reduce academic corpulence to normal proportions. The time of the student is now too precious to allow him or her to pursue what the humorist has called "the tail of the details.” God's work is not to wait while his servants go through such wonderfully elaborate preparations...The world needs men and women of action, and our schools must prepare students to do by doing.”
In order to free ourselves to teach and honor the necessary physical and mental activity of a well-rounded student, we must be diligent in trimming "the fat" in our curriculum. Every time a teacher or school plans curriculum, they should ask themselves, “What is truly necessary?”
Before we can really discuss the possibilities of what Adventist Education can be, we must clear some “space” for it to happen.
Some resources to start your thinking:
Education Week:
Deciding on 'Essential Knowledge'
teachthought:
4 Essential Rules Of 21st-Century Learning
the Second Principle:
Edutopia:
encounter
Academic Corpulence
Steve Bralley, M.Ed.
Superintendent, Kentucky-Tennessee Conference
FALL 2019
