Thinking Outside the Box

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Math, science, social studies, language arts—this is the stuff of a proper education. No course of study is complete without them. They represent the foundation, the structural basis upon which all other academic pursuits are built. This is the educational status quo of our time. But now, it's time to think outside the box, writes Marion Brady, a retired educator, in this Education Week Commentary.

When it comes to educational reform, setting standards, and creating accountability, the overarching assumption that these four subjects are the ultimate organizers of general knowledge is problematic, according to Brady. These subjects, he writes, are merely mental organizers, and not broad enough to properly equip students for making sense of the world as a whole. To do it right, Brady writes that educators must accept a supradisciplinary knowledge organizer, placing these subjects and others within a larger context.

What do you think? Would teaching and learning improve if schools organized knowledge in ways that go beyond the "core curriculum"?