Defining the word curriculum is no easy matter. Perhaps the most common defition derives from the word's Latin root, which means "racecourse". Indeed, for many students, instructors, and schools the word curriculum is a race to run, a series of obstacles or hurdles (subjects) to be passed. It is important to keep in mind that schools in Western civilization have been heavily influenced since the fourth century B.C by the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle and that the word curriculum has been used historically to describe the subjects taught during the classical period of Greek civilization. What is the real maening of the word curriculum for the twentieth century? If we have one.