Behavioral Objectives, Skinnerian Rats and Trojan Horses 1

  Many people are now concerned about the widespread advocacy of behavioral objectives as a basis for building an efficient, cost‐accountable foreign language curriculum. In reality, this “systems‐analysis” approach to curriculum is neither new nor innovative nor of demonstrated effectiveness in the field of foreign languages. In fact, when applied to humanistic studies, behavioral objectives are potentially destructive. This is because their use is based upon simplistic psychological principles, outmoded pedagogical concepts, and morally questionable attitudes regarding the right of educators to manipulate the minds and emotions of human learners toward the achievement of externally imposed, standardized goals. In addition to wasting precious teacher in the preparation and use of behavioral objectives tends toward the trivialization of the curriculum and toward an emphasis upon these learning outcomes that can be quantified and measured objectively. Worst of all, their tends to suppress the more important outcome of humanistic education that involve the idiosyncratic cultivation of internal mental states. Such phenomena as feelings, insights, values, and attitudes simply do not fit within the frame‐work of “behavior shaping.” Since it is such things which form the heart and soul of humanistic studies, the use o behavioral objectives is highly questionable beyond the level of rudimentary skill development.