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Education and Progressivism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Joel Spring
Joel Spring*
Affiliation:
Case Western Reserve University
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Extract

A major problem with Lawrence A. Cremin's The Transformation of the School is the neglect of one aspect of progressive political ideology and one stream of educational thought during the pre-World War I period. The neglect of these two movements was probably caused by a failure to give a coherent statement as to the nature of educational reforms during this period and the use of a rather vague definition of progressive political and social change. What Cremin calls “progressive education” during the pre-World War I period appears to be a conglomeration of educational changes with no particular common bonds except that they represented something new. This lack of clarity gives the impression that a strange combination of people were called “progressive educators.” Under the roof of this title is mixed the free atmosphere of Marietta Johnson's Organic School with the well ordered air of the platoon system of the Gary Public Schools. The title also houses the educational elitist and test-oriented Edward L. Thorndike with Caroline Pratt's Play School. This confused picture of educational change is a function of an equally obscure definition of progressive political and social change. Cremin vaguely defines “American Progressivism writ large” as social and political change designed to improve the lives of individuals, a valueless definition since it literally includes everyone.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , Spring 1970, pp. 53 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © 1970 by New York University 

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References

Notes

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