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Two Principal Sources of Conflict One source lies in the different ways in which
different people can and do understand what educational organizations are and how they are best led and managed.
The second source lies in the pervasive disagreement among people in our society about the nature of education itself and what the goals of schooling should be.
The Great Debate: Traditional v. Progressive Education Today traditional conservative concepts have seized
the momentum of the school reform movement.
Traditional education concepts focus on the primacy of the subject matter, with drill, memorization, teacher authority and formal instructional methods.
Progressive education concepts focus on the individual, with individualized instruction, team learning, group discussions, and informality in the classroom.
Backlash of the 1950s NEA and US Office of Education supported vocational
education curriculum for majority of students who were not going to college that led to many nonacademic courses.
Backlash against progressive education: Arthur E. Bestor (1953). Educational Wastelands: the Retreat
from Learning in Our Public Schools. Vice Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, Education and Freedom. Albert Lynd, Quackery in the Public Schools. Mortimer Smith, The Diminished Mind: A Study of Planned
Mediocrity in Our Public Schools. Robert Maynard Hutchins, Education for Freedom.
The Contemporary Debate on Schooling (continued) “We report to the American people that while we can
take justifiable pride in what our schools and colleges have historically accomplished and contributed to the United States and the well-being of its people, the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people” (A Nation at Risk, 1983).
Thomas Sowell, (1993). Inside American Education: The Decline, the Deception, the Dogmas.
The Contemporary Debate on Schooling (continued) David Berliner and Bruce Biddle (1995). The
Manufactured Crisis: Fraud, and the Attack on America’s Public Schools. Identified myths such as:
Student achievement in U.S. primary schools has recently declined. The performance of U.S. college students has also fallen recently. The United States spends a lot more money on its schools than other
nations do. Investing in the schools has not brought success. Indeed, money is
unrelated to school performance.
Gerald Bracey, columnist for Phi Delta Kappan. Richard Rothstein (1998). The Way We Were.
In his study of educational history, he never found the golden age. “Schools ain’t what they used to be and probably never were”.
Theory of Action Theory is systematically organized knowledge
thought to explain observed phenomena. Theory generates research which helps inform and perhaps change the theory as new knowledge is created.
Theory of Action—a theory describes a truth which gives rise to one’s judgment as to how the theory can help deal with practical problems, i.e., a theory of practice.
Example: Modern Western medicine v. Holistic medicine. Physicians must decide which competing theories will guide their practice.