Changing the Formal Curriculum

Abstract

In a fundamental work on curriculum studies B.S. Bloom and his associates classified educational objectives in accordance with what they called the cognitive and affective domains.¹ We have met these terms before, but have now reached a suitable point to linger over them. The cognitive domain of curriculum relates to knowledge, intellectual abilities and operational skills. The affective domain concerns receptivity, responsiveness, values, commitment and the development of a philosophy of life; or perhaps, more succinctly, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour. Bloom’s taxonomy is a serviceable tool for analysing a given curriculum, provided that the two domains are not conceived as separated by an iron curtain. This would be particularly foolish in the Soviet case with its highly overt and deliberate yoking of instruction and imbuement, academic subjects and prescribed values, knowledge and attitudes. There is very considerable overlap, as with territories simultaneously occupied by fauna of different species. For the marxist concept of knowledge includes its political application. And in time of war, when the pursuit of victory demands shared skills and common convictions, such duality of curricular purpose is more salient than ever. This chapter examines the impact of the Great Patriotic War on the subject content of the general school curriculum, indirectly through modifications of the structure of schooling and also by its immediate demands. Though the focus is on the cognitive, the affective can never be far away.