EDG4376 Reflection #3

“Progressives and Their Contemporaries”
John Dewey and William H. Kilpatrick were early proponents of Progressivism. They believed students should learn about subject matter that relates to their own interests and that schools should represent the life of the society. Dewey’s close friend, Colonel Francis Parker, also advocated Progressive Education, and even opened a progressive school in 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. Thorstein Veblen, a scientist and engineer who wrote Theory of the Leisure Class in 1899, was a member of the Technical Alliance. In 1919, he helped Dewey found The New School, which was built entirely on Progressive Education concepts. Emma Goldman was a Russian immigrant who praised the US for its high level of freedom during the Progressive Era. She fought for women’s equality, workers’ rights, and free universal education. George S. Counts was also a progressive educator who was politically oriented and fought for schools to “build a new social order.” The first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize was Jane Adamms. She was responsible for the founding of Hull-House, and strongly believed in self-expression, learning to play, active engagement, and personally enriching experiences. Ella Flagg Young was yet another leading school reformer who worked closely with Dewey. William James and Ralph W. Tyler, both philosophers, were also known for their progressive ideologies. W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington made a significant impact on the African American aspect of the Progressive movement in education. Paulo Freire is famous for his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and believed that education is the path to permanent liberation. Harold G. Rugg, an educational reformer, was also associated with Progressivism, and John Goodlad introduced the idea of “non-graded” schools in the 1950s. Marietta Johnson founded a progressive school in 1907, called “The School of Organic Education. Mortimer Adler, a leading philosopher of the 20th Century, believed that education should center on the development of good values. Augustus Comte was also a member of the Progressive Education Movement. He held social theories that advocated Positivism. George Herbert Meade felt that Science courses have a significant role in schools because the research method can be utilized in many different classes, but subject matter should relate to students’ problems and experiences. He also thought that education is a dialogue, the teacher is the most significant factor in instruction, and broad fields of learning should be emphasized because “the whole is more concrete than the part.” Charles Sanders Pierce felt that an idea or thought must be tested by experience to be validated, and ultimately, with John Dewy, founded the movement called Pragmatism. Therefore, all of the people on the table had a part to play in the Progressive Education movement.