"Extracting Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers": The Retreat From Practice in Reconceptualized Curriculum Studies

Reconceptualized curriculum theorizing is characterized by efforts to distance curriculum theory far from school practice. The characterization of the "reconceptualization" of the curriculum field as a shift from focus on developing curriculum to a preeminent concern for understanding curriculum and the proclivity to consider virtually all phenomena of life experience as acceptable subjects of curriculum inquiry are examples of a willingness to divorce curriculum theorizing from school practice. Rationales for explicitly distancing theory far from practice have been advanced, as well. This essay documents and explains these three manifestations of the theory-practice split in reconceptualized curriculum studies; evaluates this split against Dewey's educational theory, the obligations of professional schools to practicing professionals, and the ideal of the land-grant university; assesses selected recent proposals for reconceptualized curriculum practice; and suggests implications of the bifurcation of theory and practice for the curriculum field and for schooling. The theory-practice split advocated in reconceptualized curriculum theorizing is regarded as detrimental to the academic field of curriculum and to the prospect for improving curriculum practice in schools.