Educational progressivists believe that education must be based on the fact that humans are social animals who learn best in real-life activities with other people. Progressivists claimed to rely on the best available scientific theories of learning. Most believed that children learned as if they were scientists, following a process similar to John Dewey's model of learning:
Evaluate the consequences of the hypotheses from one's past experience.
Test the most likely solution.
Given this view of human nature, a progressivist teacher desires to provide not just reading and drill, but also real-world experiences and activities that center around the real life of the students. A typical progressivist slogan is "Learn by Doing!"
In 1957, the orbiting of Sputnik caused a panic in educational establishments as Americans and Europeans felt they had fallen behind the Soviet Union technologically. A rethinking of education theory followed that caused progressivism to fall from favor.
Insofar as progressiveeducation is modelled on liberal education, it concentrates on acquainting students with important arguments that take up power relations as part of the overall analysis offered in a course.
Progressiveeducation modelled on liberal education may risk accommodation to privilege by accepting the terms of access to power (as with Delpit); by presenting counterarguments to mainstream arguments deemed worthy of refutation (as in the example Hoagland offers); or even by invoking disciplinary standards such as objectivity, balance, or acquaintance with the canon.
Though progressive teachers are concerned to move students away from oppressive beliefs and commitments, the appeal to authenticity in student-centered education implicitly acknowledges a kind of parallelism in divergent forms of experience.
Feeds |
Contact