ABSTRACT
This chapter provides special attention to the issue of whether the curricular programs of the primary school vary systematically by level of social and economic development. It examines whether more modernized and developed societies incorporated more diverse areas of knowledge in primary school curricula than did less developed societies, in the earlier periods of modern mass schooling. School subjects such as the sciences, social studies, arts, physical education, and manual training, which are commonly found in the modern primary curriculum, were seldom included in the curriculum until the later half of the nineteenth century. An alternative way to approach the issue is to see the school curriculum as an institutional construct. In this view, the school curriculum is a ritual enactment of worldwide educational norms and conventions rather than an instrumental choice of individual societies to meet various local requirements.
