How Should Curriculum be Developed?

Curriculum is at the heart of education. In fact curriculum is education in that it is "what" students should learn. Beyond the arguments of what should the curriculum be, is the argument for how the curriculum should be made. The process and people behind the development will surely influence the product being created. To put this in a different context; the CEO of Coca Cola and the CEO of Pepsi Cola may argue and disagree on how soda should be made. Their different ideas and processes for making soda lead to very different flavors and products, labeled within the same category of soda. Likewise, dependent upon the people and process used to make curriculum, "what" we teach students may be of different perspectives or entirely different content.  Curriculum should be made carefully and thoughtfully by experts who understand the learning process.
While that may seem obvious to say that curriculum should be made thoughtfully by experts, at some periods of time and at some places, curriculum has been made as an after-thought by people with little investment into the educational process. With that, I am referencing Russell Shorto's "How Christian were the fathers?" article, in which curriculum development is degraded to political and religious arguments by people whom have lives and passions outside of schools. "The board has the power to accept, reject or rewrite the TEKS, and over the past few years, in language arts, science and now social studies, the members have done all of the above. Yet few of these elected overseers are trained in the fields they are reviewing." (Shorto, 2010). To think that something so vital as curriculum is being dictated by people, whom not only have little content or pedagogical knowledge, but also by people whom dedicate only their secondary hours beyond their "real jobs", is scary. Curriculum is not only a influential and powerful tool to shape generations politically (as the board members in the article view it) but it is also influential and powerful to promote greatness and intelligence within the disciplines.
When considering how the political warfare on the Texas school board dictates many curricular choices, it becomes apparent that the influence of the people designing curriculum has a large effect on the curriculum itself. So who is qualified to make such impactful decisions? I may argue, instinctively, that teachers should be designing curriculum; however that may also not be the best choice. Teachers may be qualified in that they understand the learning process but unqualified in that many are not experts in all content areas, nor are they experts in curriculum design. As stated previously, curriculum is not something to be done as an after-thought or secondary to another career focus. Rather, curriculum should be the focus of study and the primary duty of the people whom are designing it.
When reading Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction by Ralph W. Tyler, the careful thought and dedication to understanding the value and design of curriculum was apparent and noted as a necessary resource. Many things are to be gained from reading Tyler's words. First is the idea of collaboration between the disciplines as a necessary means to create a learning as a connected and whole understanding of the world.  In the article, Tyler (1949) describes how people learn and how curriculum is and can be written; "In working on curriculum in any field, it will be necessary to identify elements that are relevant to and significant matters for that field as well as for the total curriculum," (p.45). At face value, I believe Tyler is encouraging curriculum to be written as a collaborative work between experts in the contents. Beyond that, and of equal value, is what I inferred from the reading; which is that curriculum should be written by people who understand the dynamic, both horizontally and vertically (p. 84), of curriculum, like Tyler, himself. Essentially, a well-written curriculum should be the product of collaboration of content experts as well as curricular experts whom are devoted to the development of this learning framework. I would have to believe Tyler would be appalled  by how the politics in Texas is influencing the curriculum.
With Common Core State Standards now being adopted in many states, I wonder how the historical influence of the Texan school board politicians will change? Common Core State Standards boasts that it was a collaborative effort between teachers, employers, parents, and experts in content areas, but was it influenced by experts in curriculum development? Meet Chris Minnich, Executive Director of Council of Chief State School Educators. Chris has a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a Masters degree in Public Policy. He spent years working to develop assessments at the state level, and was a leader in the development of Common Core State Standards. Minnich's educational and professional experience leaves me to question his expertise in curricular development? However, Chris was only one of many people responsible for Common Core State Standards; and without researching the background of everyone person involved, we would have to hope and trust that these new standards for teaching were made with careful thought by experts dedicated to education.