title: The curriculum arguments of Michael Young and John White
abstract: Michael Young’s ideas about the school curriculum have proved to be enormously fertile, in particular his thinking about ‘powerful knowledge’ and his argument that the main function of schools is to enable all students to acquire knowledge that takes them beyond their experience. Young’s ideas are examined in this chapter, particularly in the light of John White’s long-standing views about the curriculum and his argument that the main aim of schools should be to promote human flourishing. I conc