Prologue to

The Curriculum as the Cause
of Failure

         Geoff Colvin is a behaviorist who is also a good teacher and trainer. He understands the role of instruction in shaping behavior. A week before I posted this article, Geoff asked me for permission to reproduce and present it at a seminar. Sure. (In fact, I forgot that I had written this paper.)
         Geoff presented it to graduate students. Some of them later indicated that they were both shocked and insulted because this was the first time they had heard anything about the relationship between curriculum and failure, particularly the notion that you could observe student behavior and infer the flaws in the curriculum they went through from the kind of mistakes they make.
         After I heard Geoff’s report, I read the article and concluded that it is as timely today as it was in 1993, when I wrote it. The field still hasn’t learned that poorly designed curricula generate poor performance in both teacher and students.