Pragmatism/Progressivism EDFD201

PRAGMATISM/PROGRESSIVISM“Emphasis upon how to think rather than what to think”

“Education should be life itself, not a preparation for living”

AIM OF EDUCATIONSince growth is the characteristic of life, education is all one with growing; it has no end beyond itself

Freedom and responsibility

SCHOOLS SHOULD…Foster habits of thought, invention, and initiative that will assist people in becoming all they can be

Roots

Pragmatism

• work

Progressivism

• development

Era of Reform• Scientific revolution• Industrial revolution• Civil rights• Election• Questioning attitudes fostered by the Enlightenment• Naturalistic humanism• Idealism vs. Realism

Criticized Traditional School Practices• Authoritarian teacher• Exclusive reliance on bookish methods of instruction• Passive learning by memorization of factual data• Four-walls philosophy of education that attempted to

isolate education from social reality• The use of fear or physical punishment as a form of

disciplines

PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION…was both a movement within the broad framework of American education and a theory that urged the liberation of the child from the traditional emphasis on rote learning, lesson recitations, and book authority.

John Dewey1859 – 1951

Born in Burlington, Vermont

Died because of hip fracture

Parents:Archibald Sprague DeweyLucina Artemesia Rich

Birth Order: 3rd of 4 Siblings

1879 – graduated from University of Vermont1880-1884

HS teacher for 2 yrs at Oil City, PAElem teacher for 1 yr at Charlotte, VermontReceived his PhD from Johns Hopkins University (1884)

1884-1894Instructor & Assistant Professor of Philosophy at University of Michigan

1894 – 1904 (University of Chicago)Head of Department of PhilosophyTwo (2) years Director, School of Education

1896-1904Laboratory School in University of Chicago

1904-1930Department of Philosophy at Columbia University

1941Approved 6-year experiment for progressive method of education

• One of the nation’s intellectual giants• Chief spokesman for the progressivists movement. • Democracy and Education (1916) is perhaps the single

most important book on education ever published in his country

• Dewey was a social activist.• He campaigned for democratic education and schooling,

and for causes such as women’s right to vote, welfare, and teacher’s tenure.

• He was a firm believer in teachers’ organization.

Nature and Experience• Nature and experience are not two different things; rather,

experience itself is of nature

METHODS OF EDUCATION

• Various methods are needed, because there is no single way to educate.

• Movable child-sized desks• Large print in books for small children

• All knowledge is related.

• Broad education

Problem-solving

• Real-life situations encourage problem-solving ability in a practical setting.

• Education should be experimental.

• new things to learn• different things to

experience

Two-fold value

• An important piece of knowledge is learned

• The skills of inquiry and self-sufficiency are developed, which will benefit individuals for years to come

• “Project-approach” by Kilpatrick

• group learning

• Projects should be chosen by students as much as possible through individual and group discussion.

CURRICULUM

• Knowledge and experience are inseparable.

• There should be no gap between child’s area of interest and important subject matter.

• There should be focus on process because ends should not be divorced from means.

• When one views what a child learns as fixed and ready made, attention is directed too much on outcome.

• Diversified curriculum

• Problem-centered activities

• Attacks the problem in diverse ways according to their interests and needs

• Traditional disciplines are not ignored but are used for a knowledge background of the problem.

Evaluation of students• All questions of the grading of the child and his promotion

should be determined by reference to the SAME STANDARD.

• Examinations are of use ONLY so far as they test the child’s fitness for social life and reveal the place in which he can be of the most service and where he can receive the most help.

ROLE OF THE TEACHER

DANGER!Formal education can be abstract and remote from students’ actual life experiences

Therefore…• Constant attention must be given to linking life experiences with other experiences.

…This is where the TEACHER’S ROLE becomes crucial.

Training is not the same thing as education

• Children can be trained through behavioral conditioning to like or avoid things without understanding why they should do so.

• Most habits of animals are the result of training, but humans, unlike horses, have a wider range of understanding and can act on that understanding.

HOW?

TEACHERS SHOULD SERVE AS…Knowledgeable guides and resources for students, not as taskmasters who just drill students in subject matter.

Pragmatists believe that children have an inherent motivation to learn, and that the teacher should capture and use the motivation that already exists.

TEACHER SHOULD…establish a proper learning environment in order to STIMULATE desired intellectual and emotional growth among students

Example

• Using their interest as their starting point, students find that textiles are an enduring feature of human history.

TEACHERS SHOULD…promote an active role for students

“focus on learner, not the subject”

However…

• Teachers must understand that all children are NOT at the same point and CANNOT be educated in the same way.

Critique of Progressivism in Education

• Using education to shape a pluralistic society without due regard for unique cultural differences

• Lowered standards in public education

• Many educators felt that their approach to education was not rigorous enough; that we needed to get back to the “basics”

• Misinterpretation; an occasional lack of specificity in pragmatism makes it difficult to apply

• Permissiveness

• Deprecates the acquisition of knowledge and waters down the curriculum by taking a piece of this and a bit of that discipline without ever fully exploring either in depth, catering to students’ interests and slighting the basic disciplines they need

Because…• Some progressive reforms were sometimes implemented

too hastily and without adequate preparation of teaching staffs.

• Some reformers did not completely grasp the essential ideas of the changes to be made.

• Dewey’s name often was invoked but his works seldom studied, and many progressive zealots took his ideas out of context.

• Some educators have interpreted Dewey to mean that the intellectual and cognitive sides of education are unimportant.

FACT!!!• Dewey placed intelligence and thinking in a central

position in his philosophy.• Though… He thought that intelligence is developed in

purposeful activity dealing with problems and arriving at solutions.

• He DID NOT ignore books, subject matter, and the need for periodic drill.

• He simply rejected the assertion that these are the most important things in education.

TRIVIA!• Pragmatism/progressive education was identified with

radical social reform.• For many educators, it was detrimental to associate

pragmatist ideas into conservative and traditional schools.

…In as sense, therefore, elements of pragmatism came in through back doors of schools, and this factor helps explain why pragmatist ideas and methods often are used (and misused) but are not always identified with the philosophy of pragmatism.

• Rejects traditional values in favor of values that are uncertain, changeable, and impermanent

FACT!!!• Pragmatists, such as Dewey, DID NOT believe that

traditional ideas and values should be rejected out-of-hand but should be carefully studied.

…one cannot afford to rely only on hand-me-down values and that people should be seeking new ideas and values in every area of human activity

• It supports the idea that schools should maintain an experimental approach to learning.

…and what such critics fail to realize

• This does NOT mean that ideas and methods, no matter how ancient in origin, are to be scrapped automatically.

• New ideas and methods should be developed and implemented when they help to better solve perplexing human problems

• The type of educator needed for progressive education needed to be exceptional, that is, extremely capable and highly educated in several disciplines.

• It is doubtful that a sufficient number of such persons could be prepared and retained today, particularly considering the level of financial outlay society seems willing to provide for education.

PRAGMATISM/PROGRESSIVISM…does not mean that valuable traditions are to be disrespected or discarded; rather, it means that we must learn to solve pressing problems intelligently, rather than rely mindlessly on traditions.