Battle B
Education
Education has come tremendously far since
the progressive era. From the expectations of the students in their classes to
the classes the teachers taught. Nowadays kids are expected to attend school
from kindergarten to twelfth grade and then hopefully to college, to get a
college education, however this was not the case before the Progressive Era.
During this time, for the majority of kids, attending high school was an
unrealistic dream that would never happen.
The purpose of
education was to educate the kids, on what was necessary to function in their
lives. Primary schools were as far as most women got in their education because
they only needed a basic education to run their husbands household. Men
(especially white men) however were more fortunate and attended school longer.
For working-class men the level of schooling they got, was usually up to their
teenage years, which is modernly called, middle school, however for the higher
class men they usually went on to complete high school. Some men got the privilege of attending a
college, but only the middle and upper classes and was much more rare as it is
today.
Today everyone
gets the privilege to have an education, whether it come from a public school
or a private school. It does not matter necessarily what class your family is
in or where you live. However before the Progressive Era this was not the case,
education was based on who you were, not what you are capable of doing. Women,
black females, and males did not get the same opportunities as most white males
because of who they were, and their class. Thankfully today that as changed so
that everyone can have the “American Dream” and get the education they long to
have, no matter what their social status may be, but through scholarships.
The
evolution of education through the Progressive Era was credited to John Dewey.
Dewey created a new approach to learning, one that emphasized on the rate of
learning with a more flexible, democratic view, which enabled to students to
acquire knowledge to accustom the reality of their daily lives. John Dewey saw
education as the answer for making up for the loss of the decline of local
community life and small-scale enterprise, which young people were missing.
Progressive education includes two
key points, for example the first being that each individual should be
acknowledged for his or her own abilities. Parallel to the Albert Einstein’s
quote of, if you base a fish on how smart it is by testing how will the fish
can climb up the tree then the fish will go through life thinking it is an
idiot. Each person has there own unique talent, and thanks to the Progressive
Era this concept is recognized. The second point was that critical and socially engaging intelligence allows individuals to participate in the activities of the community.
Cite Page:
-
This website was useful because it helped me
become more knowledgeable on what “progressive education” means, and facts the
essential elements that progressive education involves.
-
This website was useful because it introduced me
to Hiram Johnson who helped improve education, mostly in public schools, with
his position in government.
-
This website was useful to me because it
introduced me to “The Committee of Ten” and taught me how the subjects they
thought were most important and why.
-
Even though this Act is way before the time
period we are researching, it was helpful in understanding how education has
progressed.
-
This website was useful by giving me a summary
of what John Dewey beliefs, and what he taught in regards to education.
- This website
was useful because it helped me better understand the education expectation of
the lower and upper classes.
American History Textbook
-Introduced
me to John Dewey and his role in Progressive Education.
