Post on 23-Dec-2014
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THE PROGRESSIVE ERA OF EDUCATION
Keifer, Whitney, Chandler
Progressive Education Movement• Progressivism- philosophic orientation based on the belief that
life is evolving in a positive direction, that people may be trusted to act in their own best interest, and education should focus on children’s interests and needs.
• Characteristics of Progressive Education:– Focused on social reform and improving quality of life– Not united by a single philosophy– Opposed to autocratic teaching methods
• Based exclusively on textbooks, recitations, and memory• Isolation of classroom from the real world• Classroom discipline based on fear and physical punishment
-- Teachers were guides rather than “task makers”• Provided students with activities related to natural interests for engagement• THEN moved students to higher levels of understanding. • Teachers needed perceptive understanding of children and a knowledge of
discipline and knowing when a child is ready to learn.
TWO MAIN INFLUENCES
John Dewey Maria Montessori
JOHN DEWEY
1859-1952
Founded a Laboratory School at University of Chicago where he was a professor.
Believed students should have a say in what they studied
Teachers would lead them on right path based on choices
MARIA MONTESSORI
1870-1952
Believed children’s development could be
influenced by education activities
Interesting materials make students interested in
learning
Provide more self[discipline and self-confidence
Methods used in early education today
Education (or lack thereof) of Immigrants and Minorities During the late 19th and early 20th
centuries American schools became more and more diverse.
They now held Germans, Latin Americans, Chinese, Native Americans, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans.
Education?
Children were punished for speaking
Parental respect
Military institutions
Emotional scars
Help!Landmark report- The Problem of
Indian AdministrationBuild day schoolsRevised school curriculaReflect tribal cultures and need of
local communities.
Mary McLeod Bethune Educational rights of African Americans Founded Daytona Normal and Industrial
School for Training Negro Girls. Merged with a boy’s school to become
Bethune-Cookman College. Appointed to Advisory Board of National
Youth Administration President Franklin Roosevelt- minority
The Decline of Progressive Education• The decline of progressive education began with the start of
WWII. The citizens of the US thought that the curriculum of progressivism was out of line with what the students needed to learn.
*Teaching approaches were seen as soft and lacking structure and discipline
children needed.
*Many school deficiencies were blamed on progressive education
• The Progressive Education Association ceased operation in 1955. When it began, it meant everything that was good in the educational system. By 1954, it was the root of all educational evil.
Federal Involvement in Education• G.I. Bill of Rights– Aka: Servicemen’s Readjustment Act– Signed by FDR in 1944– Provided millions of veterans with payments for
tuition and room and board at colleges, universities, and special schools all over the country
– It not only stimulated growth of American colleges and universities; it also changed the character of the higher education student population• Returning veterans were older, spiking the average age.• Returning veterans were more serious about school, spiking
the average GPA.
Federal Involvement in Education(continued)
• LANHAM ACT (1941) provided funding for– the training of workers in war plants by personnel
from the U.S Office of Education during WWII– construction of schools in areas where military
personnel and federal workers lived– provision of child care for children of working
parents