Here’s a word whose meaning changes -- “curriculum.” What does it mean? Strictly speaking, “curriculum” means:

The planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials, resources, and processes for evaluating the attainment of educational objectives.

But these days it has taken on a new meaning:

A barrier between schools and museums shutting students off from available educational resources.

That’s because “doesn’t fit the curriculum” is a way of saying “no thanks” to an array of Boal Mansion Museum resources offered to the State College Area School District (SCASD) (See http://boalmuseum.com/schools.htm).

This exclusion is hard to justify, when the Federal government assessed the Boal Museum this way:

“The generations of the Boal family who have occupied the estate evoke an understanding of time and of many of the themes that dominate the study of American history.” 

Or how about BBC-TV which came from London to film the Columbus Chapel and broadcast the story throughout the United Kingdom, stating:

There could be no more extraordinary an example of the cross-cultivation of the Old World and the New than the Columbus Chapel in Boalsburg.

Or Lee Stout of PSU’s Pattee Library, who wrote:

“Clearly Boal Mansion is a vital part of both Centre County’s past and its present understanding of its heritage.”

And yet, the Museum does not fit anywhere into SCASD’s curriculum? Hard to believe, isn’t it?

Large organizations that are taken over by self-serving in-groups risk being bypassed by other organizations who serve the community better.

This could explain the abundance of charter schools, private academies and home schools who come to this Museum, as well as other public schools from hours away. And still, no SCASD visits here and no museum visits to classrooms.

Why not? One scholar speculated that State College is in a Social Studies culture war – “critical theorists” versus traditional historians.

Critical theorists emphasize not just the facts, but students’ perception of the facts, not just to understand but to change society, e.g. to “deconstruct systems of cultural domination.”

Maybe local teachers assume the Boal Mansion Museum’s educational approach is traditional and therefore the enemy. If so, they’re wrong. Here’s what our Museum educators say to students:

“If is you learn one lesson from the Boal history, it is that you shape the culture that you then live in and, if you don’t like things the way they are, since you made it up in the first place, you can change it. And if you want to change the world, change the way you look at the world. The world will follow.”

Generations of Boals have shaped the culture around them, founding or helping found the village of Boalsburg, Penn State University, the 28^th Division Shrine and numerous civic events.

If SCASD staff and faculty cannot see Boal history as representative of our community through two centuries, then they are looking through an odd cultural filter. Ironically, they perpetuate their own system of cultural domination.

Our community’s children are the ones who lose when the Museum “doesn’t fit the curriculum.” Teachers elsewhere have high praise for the Museum and their students’ experience here. Meanwhile, our local kids are shut out. How sad!

If BBC-TV in England and PBS in America can appreciate and disseminate the Boal Mansion heritage far and wide, maybe it wouldn’t hurt for the local school district to open its eyes to the Boal Mansion Museum’s educational value.

Well, thanks for reading this declamation this far. Replies and alternate ideas are welcome.

--Christopher Lee, CEO

chris@boalmuseum.com, 814-466-9266