Customer Reviews

The Saber-Tooth Curriculum, Classic Edition

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I doubt THE SABER-TOOTH CURRICULUM would be produced today, a sad commentary on our times. No contemporary publisher would distribute the first edition to educators for the sake of discourse and no doubt a little shrewd marketing like McGraw did in the late 1930s, and no pointed but whimsical and very funny satire on pedagogical history in the age of theory rendered in opaque language would get very far. What is a better commentary on our times is that this wonderful book is still in print and still venerated despite the trouble it would have in getting born now.

A thumbnail sketch: a man, Raymond Wayne, the putative author (actually, the real author is Harold Raymond Wayne Benjamin, who died in 1969 and is still admired as an educational thinker), is in a bar in Tijuana, knocking back tequila daisies when he runs into his old professor, J. Abner Peddiwell, Ph.d., who, with considerable help from the daisies, agrees to embark on a seminar illustrating the history and issues of pedagogy. His witty example is told through the story of the cave man who first decided that children needed to learn the essentials of fish-grabbing, little horse clubbing and tiger-scaring. Out of this grows a complex system that includes teacher accreditation, higher education, Ph.D. programs, progressive theory, conservative theory, teacher unions, the rise of phys ed. and the question that never goes away, do we teach children how to think or what to think?

It is enlightening to read how fresh the issues are nearly 70 years later. One only wonders what hay Benjamin would make with the likes of today's educational soup of politics, law, economics and the headlining controversies that plague the profession.

Yup, the more things change the more they stay the same. Observations on education made in the 30's are highly relevant today.

I was granted a teaching certificate in 1979, earned it years later, and stumbled onto this book about 1990. I was laughing my way though it, turned to the copyright date, and was stunned to see it was already 50 years old. Now, in 2011, it's still relevant.

This is a 1-day read, highly entertaining, and spot on.

When I found this book on my list of items to read for a graduate course, I did not believe the reviews that stated a 70 year old book could still provide enlightenment on todays' issues. Coming into the education field with a background in business, I found myself not only laughing throughout parts of the book but agreeing with the author. This book brought education and business together for me.

The author is correct, today we spend too much time focusing on what worked yesterday and not wanting to change. As a result, we make excuses on why what was still could be the answer. We are all realizing that yesterday's education is no longer effective for tomorrow's students. This book is one every stakeholder should read before voting on the latest "get fixed-quick" plans for education are initiated. While this book does not offer any suggestions on how to fix the system, it does offer an interesting viewpoint on how everything went so wrong. The question thus becomes who can come up with an answer to the questions this book poses.

This is one of the books recommended for reference for my Master's in Education and I enjoyed it so much, I wanted the book for a reference library. I only wish it had been available for download to my kindle!

If you're uncertain whether education has evolved over the past near-century, prepare for a paleolithic interpretation of how, what, where, why and when we educate. Imaginary characters, authors and subject matter will entertain you and raise your irritation level (humourously) around some early-20th-century to current-day educational practices.
It's an easy read and worth it!

This is a very funny book, which could even be enjoyed by somebody without a specific interest in education or curriculum. It purports to be based on a series of one-on-one lectures by Professor Abner Peddiwell, who has been loosened up by tequila. It is really by Harold Benjamin, who writes a foreword. The point of the book is, should education be of time-honored subjects, or should it have relevance to the here and now? It is told as a story of Paleolithic life, in which the subjects in school are Saber-tooth Tiger Scaring, Horse-clubbing, and Catching Fish with the Bare Hands. The controversy arrives many years later, when there are no saber-tooth tigers, or horses, or is it possible to catch fish with the bare hands anymore. However, these same subjects are still taught in the school for philosophical reasons. I'm sure you can guess where this is going, and I don't want to spoil it for you. The illustrations are appropriate for the text. You will like this, regardless of your educational philosophy.

If you are in education--on either side of the desk, you will enjoy this old charmer. You will laugh at the longest bar in the world, Tequila Daisies, and all the notions they inspire about how education worked in the VERY old caveman days.

needed for a class I teach, arrived in a timely manner and was in great shape as represented in ad

Do you like books where you don't know what's going to happen next? If you do this is for you. The kids Jack and Annie are trying to save Morgen. The kids nearly freeze. They found cave men coats and use them. Will they get eaten up by a saber-tooth? Thios is the best book ever if you read it. If you like adventure then this is for you. This is recommended for 2nd through 5th grade.

by

Josh