This essay is my attempt to present a coherent framework within which educational planning and instruction can occur. My central point is that we should frame the schools' mission(s) in terms of student behaviors in the three domains of learning: cognitive, affective and the psycho motor. At the national, the state, the district, the school and the classroom levels, all who are involved in the business of teaching kids should continually ask themselves, "What behaviors do we wish to inculcate in our young people?"
Educators should describe the target behaviors on as objective level as they possible. Doing so requires that everyone become adept at writing "behavioral objectives" so that both the teachers and the students have a means of assessing the extent to which they have measured up to the required standard.
Describing education in terms of student behavior has the effect of turning classrooms into beehives of student activity. The trend in recent years has been toward more activity oriented classrooms. I would only commend those teachers who keep their students busy and encourage others to follow their lead. Instead of asking students to sit passively listening to(or ignoring) teachers talk; student in an activity centered classroom practice those behaviors that they are expected to master. Since practice makes perfect, those who have gone through the drills in an action oriented learning environment ought to do very well on their final evaluations.
My secondary objective in writing this essay and offering it free is to introduce six short textbooks that I have listed at this site as aids in fulfilling several of the objectives that I have outlined in my sample curriculum. Four of the books form a series titled "Conventions of Language, Thinking, and Writing." One of the remaining two focuses on values, while the other deals at a basic level with economics. These books all fall within the parameters of the sample curriculum that I have outlined.