The Saber-Tooth Curriculum

In this little book a fictitious authority on stone-age education presents a series of lectures satirizing educators and education. Professor Peddiwell reports that the three fundamentals taught to youngsters in the paleolithic curriculum were (1) fish-grabbing-with-the-bare-hands, (2) horse-clubbing, and (3) saber-tooth-tiger-scaring-with-fire. When fish became too agile to catch with the bare hands and horses and tigers disappeared, schools nevertheless went on teaching the old fundamentals for their cultural value. The eventual revolt of the progressive educators against traditional curriculum is described in one of the most entertaining passages in this amusing satire.