CHOOSING CURRICULUM—the subjects that a school teaches—seems as though it ought to be a relatively easy task. After all, everybody needs to be taught how to read, write, add, and subtract. All a teacher has to do is add a little science, social studies, and art, and the education menu is complete.

In reality, however, creating specific programs that satisfy everyone proves more difficult. For instance, some Americans, such as Ernest Boyer of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, believe that curricula should be based on "a core of common learning ... a study of those ... ideas, experiences, and traditions common to all of us."

Others believe that "a core of common learning" is not necessary or desirable. Because of the diversity in America, traditions and values may be one thing to a...