In aspect of traditional understanding, educational curriculum is usually understood and accepted as a kind of controling mechanism and plan of society. Though this understanding made a success of cramming knowledges and reward-punishment system into ...
In aspect of traditional understanding, educational curriculum is usually understood and accepted as a kind of controling mechanism and plan of society. Though this understanding made a success of cramming knowledges and reward-punishment system into students through educational system, it didn't informed the true purpose of educational system. Has only been leading teachers how to teach effectively, it regarded them as tools. Today, there are lots of ciritics requesting a new paradigm of educational curriculum.
Dealing with educational curriculum as a mean of social control revealed problems. One of the problems is a matter of knowledges distribution concerned which levels of educational opportunities are supposed to be provided to a certain group. Second is a matter of knowledge assessment what courses should be include in or excluded from curriculum. The last one is a matter of grasping concept about a knowledge of curriculum how much we emphasize a value of certain knowledges. This traditional understanding of educational curriculum deeply affected christian education and caused problems in abundance.
Critical discussions against "the way of choice and organization" of the curriculum used in the field of christian education after the midst of 1960s are as following;
The first point of critiques against the traditional curriculum is "non-systemic nature." That is, it make learners simply apply the knowledges of the Bible to the field of life.
"A nature of non-efficiency" is a second point of critiques which ask to lay stress on "possibilities of changes" that may be happened to learners as a result of learning rather than on the patterns of education which consist of teacher-centered explanations.
The third point is a critic introspection of the traditional curriculum on "an ideological dimension." In other words, the contents of church education is including non-christian notions justifying past prejudice or cultural ideology unconsciously as well as a proper interpretations about the Bible and the form of christian life. This position insists non-christian points of faith and ethics must be get handed down if these contents are accepted without any verification to the Christianity.
It is no exaggeration that these problems appear through the result of the life of christian faith.
Asking to apply knowledges of the Bible to the field of life through dogmatic education prevents a christian from practicing concrete and tangible christian life with a sense of vividness. Also, a teacher-centered curriculum is engrossed in cramming personal ideology and prevent learners from attaining and understanding the Bible and growing up "unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."
As a result, biased knowledges and educational methods of church education fitted on a purpose and aim of a church get church members to criticize, to compete with, or even to separate from other churches.
Eventually, it could be a problem of christian education producing such a person who has a large amount of biblical knowledge, is neat on the logic, nevertheless, who is immature for culture, superficial for morality, and irresponsible for faith.
Researcher views that the problems are on the courses themselves which educate learners for dogma given much weight on the church education(for instance, teaching materials of church school). They must not deal with the curriculum of church education simply as a delivery course of dogmatic education but reconceptualization to discover and chew over the true value of the Bible and dogma in order to help to live a responsible life as a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
At this point, the major purpose of this study is to find a solution of the problems giving too much emphasis on the education of knowledges causing irresponsible christian life in spite of an abundant knowledges of the Bible and dogma. Trying to reconceptualization dogma which take up many contents of christian education, it intends to suggest "aesthetics" as a tool for applying the Bible and dogma concretely to the biblical life.
This study refers the researches suggested by theorists of educational curriculum and aesthetic concept.
Flowing and understanding of the concept of curriculum for christian education is presented as a study of movement of research. This study looks over the movement of research for the reconceptualization through history of researches of curriculum, tries to understand the perceptional approach to the reconceptualization of the educational curriculum.
To reveal the problems of the traditional curriculum on the christian education, it is examining a theory of curriculum suggested by Tyler, a representative of traditionalism. Also, as studying the influences of his curriculum on the christian education through the movement of research of christian educational theorists, it tries to expose the appropriateness of the reconceptualization for the curriculum. For this reconceptualization, the aesthetics is presented as a tool.
The notion of aesthetics is studied on various fields and suggested on the philosophic aesthetic, theological aesthetic, educational aesthetic, and so on. This research discusses aesthetics on the point of educational aesthetic.
Finally, through analyzing the situations of church education of Korea, researcher tries to aesthetic reconceptualizing the curriculum with developmental steps of faith and other important issues to suggest an alternative for christian curriculum.
It will be agreed that it has some limits. Even though the concept of aesthetics has presented on the other fields with various research data, studies on aesthetics from the educational field isn't diverse. Indeed, it is hard to gether various preceding researches on the asthetic cognition in the field of christian education. Thus, it tries to illuminate newly and identify its understanding through applying the data from aesthetics of general education. This study aims courses to teach an ability of applying concretely to the christian life not by stimulating emotions but by educating and understanding of aesthetics on the dimension of intelligence.