The learner as the curriculum-maker

I was recently introduced to this idea in class. Many teachers struggle with the proposition that they could be curriculum makers in the classroom, many preferring to stick rigidly to the curriculum handed down to them by the curriculum specialists. So even more untoward is that idea that you should consider what your students want to learn and give them freedom to decide along with you what to learn.

But, I, having never been a school teacher, and having always, all my life, a learner, think that the learner as a curriculum maker is a wonderful wonderful idea. How sad that for so many years of my life, what I studied was dictated by the authorities, it was based on national interests, instead of my personal interests! How sad, that I spent hours learning things like differentiation and partial fractions (no offense to mathematicians), things they said were important for me, rather than perhaps pursuing something that may have more bearing on my future contribution to society.

Forgive that personal gripe. Today, I may not have a Harvard, Yale, Cambridge, or Oxford curriculum, what gives smart people their status, but what I am in control of is personally designing my own Shuyi-curriculum that fits me. I will buy any book I think I need to enrich my thinking. I will speak to anyone I think can help me achieve my goals. I will decide on my own how my journey will unfold. I will be my own curriculum-maker.