On the Historiography of Curriculum: The Legend of Petrus Ramus

• In Event: Influential Thinkers and Their Legacy in the History of Education

Abstract

This paper explores the historiography of curriculum through the legend of Petrus Ramus (1515-1572). The entire edifice of curriculum history is built upon Ong’s Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue, completed as a doctoral thesis in 1955 and published in 1958. To this moment for curriculum historians, Ong’s thesis stands as the key interpretation of Ramus, with secondary source precariously built upon secondary source. But what if Ong was wrong? Ong’s interpretation is built on the initial work of his mentor, Marshall McLuhan. From the revisionism of McLuhan and Ong, we turned supposition into fact, which is to say that Ramus and the birth of curriculum from the womb of method is the stuff of legend, not history.

Authors

• Yu-Ling Lee, University of British Columbia

• Stephen Petrina, The University of British Columbia

• Franc H. Feng, The University of British Columbia