Originally published as a collection of Krishna Kumar's UGC national lectures, What is Worth Teaching? has acquired the status o f a popular analytical text on curriculum inquiry. The title essay poses the problem of curriculum design and content as an aspect of the relationship between education and society. The central theme of knowledge, its selection and representation is pursued in the book in the context of issues such as the teaching of reading, the use of the textbook, gender socialisation and the values associated with secularism. From reading and storytelling in the early primary classes to the teaching of history in India and Pakistan, this collection offers an accessible introduction to critical inquiry in educational theory.
This revised edition carries a new essay on technology and its role in education today.
Preface to the Fifth Edition 1. What is Worth Teaching? 2. Origins of the Textbook Culture 3. Implications of a Divisive School System 4. Reading in the Primary School Curriculum 5. Storytelling: What is the Use? 6. Growing Up Male 7. Secularism: Its Politics and Pedagogy 8. Peace with the Past 9. Listening to Gandhi 10. The Concept of Quality in Education 11. Technology and Education Today