He further proposed five courses: the first is the preliminary anatomy of physiology. It is the most important part of reasonable education, which directly preserves one's knowledge. The second category is logic, mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, geology, biology and social sciences, which are the basis for indirectly preserving one's own knowledge and making all the processes that make civilized life possible proceed correctly.
The third category is physiology, psychology and pedagogy. This is the necessary knowledge to fulfill the responsibilities of parents. The fourth category is history. It is beneficial for people to standardize their behavior and fulfill their civic obligations. The fifth category is literature, art and so on. Satisfying people's leisure and entertainment is knowledge.
On the issue of educational purpose, he is one of the representatives of the theory of life. Different from Dewey's theory that education adapts to life, he put forward the theory that education should prepare for the perfect life in the future. The term of applying curriculum to educational science began with what knowledge is most valuable written by British educator Spencer (1820- 1903). As an important advocate of educational science, he interprets curriculum as a systematic organization of teaching content.
It is precisely because Spencer interprets curriculum as a systematic organization of teaching content that we need to pay attention to Spencer, like Comenius and Herbart, who is also an advocate of subject curriculum and sub-subject curriculum.
Spencer is also a representative of the early subject-centered curriculum theory. His essentialism curriculum theory, Herbart's knowledge curriculum theory, essentialism and eternity curriculum theory in the mid-20th century, and Bruner's discipline structure curriculum theory all explain the curriculum based on the discipline knowledge standard, which promoted the development of knowledge-centered curriculum theory in different historical periods.