John Franklin Bobbitt

Born in 1876, John Franklin Bobbitt became an influential American educator and writer at a time when public schooling was changing quickly. He is best known for arguing that curriculum should be designed in a systematic, practical way, with close attention to the activities and responsibilities students would face in adult life.

Bobbitt taught at the University of Chicago and wrote books that became widely discussed in education, including The Curriculum (1918) and How to Make a Curriculum (1924). His work is often linked to the rise of curriculum as a distinct field of study, and many later scholars have described him as one of its founding figures.

He died in 1956, but his ideas still appear in conversations about educational planning, standards, and the purpose of schooling. Even readers who disagree with his emphasis on efficiency and social roles usually see him as an important figure in the history of modern education.