How Joe Schwab Thinks: A Review of The Practical 1 after 40 Years

Abstract

"How Joe Schwab Thinks: A Review of The Practical 1 after 40 Years" is an example of Biblio-Revenance, which invites a reviewer to return to previously a published work and reexamine its ideas in relation to the passing of time and the "differing sense of self." Tom Roby puts Schwab's influential essay, "The Practical, a Language for Curriculum" into its historical context, its ongoing impact, and its status after nearly half a century (1967-2007). Roby, a student and colleague of Schwab's, takes a second look at his own dissertation work when the first Practical article came out, as well as at the end of the sequence when he co-authored the Practicals 5 & 6. The changing understanding of the role of theory over the review period from Schwab's attack on its over reliance in education to its more vague usage today is one of the revealing comparisons.