Examination of the history of secondary school English elective curricula--from their development and growth between 1962 and 1968, through their refinement and variation between 1968 and 1972, to their critical examination and decline between 1972 and 1977--can be summarized in six points. First, the curriculum was a logical development springing from deep roots in educational history and English teaching (life adjustment education, the Progressive era, and the academic model of English). Second, the elective curriculum provided a springboard from which the English profession could examine and act upon many basic issues in secondary school learning and teaching such as change and variety, relevance, the viability of the core curriculum concept, and student and teacher interests. Third, the elective curriculum gave the teacher and student a powerful impetus for instruction and learning--control. Fourth, it was genuinely innovative in that it restructured the traditional curriculum and also paid serious attention to new subjects related to English. Fifth and sixth, while its decline is the "zeitgeist" of the times, the curriculum will probably influence English teaching in the future. (A case study of the elective program at Fort Hunt High School, Fairfax County, Virginia, is used as an example of the philosophy used in most elective programs and of the development and decline of elective programs.) (RL)