Social Diversity and Differentiated Schooling: The Progressive Era We will examine two topics: The characteristics of the modern school growing out of the social efficiency movement. Spokesperson: Charles Eliot The characteristics of Dewey’s philosophy of learning and his aims for education.

Dramatic Changes in the Political Economy 20th Century SOCIAL CONDITIONS 1900 (Tozer, Chapter 5) Pressures of 1893 Depression, the rise of modern industrial society, urbanization and immigration. Social problems: Immigration Industrialization Low Wages Labor Unrest (Strikes, Riots) Poverty in Cities Child Labor Discrimination

IDEOLOGY SHIFT –The Modern Liberal State Classical Liberalism evolved into Modern Liberalism Frame of reference for the 20th Century Tozer, Chapter 5 Greater influence by science and scientific rationality Progress via expert planning Darwin’s theory of evolution “universe not fixed” “social Darwinist claimed not all races as fully evolved” “some not fit to survive” Increased nationalism (2 World Wars) Genetic Theories of Intelligence NATURE Scientific evidence through IQ testing that many were limited in their capacity to reason, targeted certain ethnic groups Laissez-faire government (freedom from) replaced by government intervention (to preserve freedom, an active government) Power centered more with political and business leaders.

What does progressive mean What does progressive mean? It emerged out of 1893 Depression, spurred interest in all kinds of reform. Progressive refers to “a movement to organize 20th century American society into an efficiently functioning unit that would be in HARMONY with the needs of a MODERN INDUSTRIAL society.” Progressive means moving towards a more ORDERLY, MORAL, DEMOCRATIC society. (Depending upon how these goals are defined--can create conflicts.) “Efficiently functioning society…[needs to] operate on principles of non-partisan politics, scientific and professional expertise.”

Factories changed the nature of work Taylorization (Tozer, 44) Principles of engineering to management of people for “efficiency.”

Failure of the traditional classical curriculum to motivate students. SCHOOLS WERE NOT MEETING THE NEEDS OF SOCIETY What did critics say about traditional schooling? (Tozer, Chapter 5, 151) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opXKmwg8VQM&feature=related Failure of the traditional classical curriculum to motivate students. High dropout rates in both elementary and secondary schools. Growing problems of juvenile delinquency. Waste and inefficiency in school management by local schools. Irrelevance of the traditional curriculum to the “real” needs of modern industrial society.

1940 Progressive Education Google YouTube Video Progressive Education 1940 “Time Marches On” http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6731251300828424957&q=Progressive+education+1940&total=5&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0 THIS IS AN ADVERTISMENT FOR PROGRESSIVE SCHOOLS INSPIRED BY THEORIES OF JOHN DEWEY it exaggerates! Opens with criticism of traditional schools —RIGID, UNCHANGING, MEMORIZATION and students hate school. Professor William Heard Kilpatrick (Columbia University), one of Dewey’s students, talks about the “project method” (activities, school store, trips) UNDERSTANDING Opposed by Professor William Bagley (Columbia), society in danger when rigorous academic study is weakened by practical activities (fall of Greece) Dewey makes claims for learning-not the past, not for the present, but for the future.

Tens of thousands of schools--(slight exaggeration) 1940 Progressive Education (Enter this to view again) Google Video Propaganda Film for Project Method Project method approach is inspired by Dewey. Film is WRONG about its growing impact. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6731251300828424957&q=Progressive+education+1940&total=5&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0 Dewey’s Approach was applied in experimental schools and a few public schools. But the film states: Tens of thousands of schools--(slight exaggeration) Overwhelming majority of teachers agree?

TWO VERY DIFFERENT VIEWS OF PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION Differed on Ideology and Social Goals Social Efficiency Views Prevailed Developmental Democracy Progressives (experimental schools) Addams, Dewey Sought social justice by casting off restrictions, expand participation among all citizens Social--Jane Addams Hull House – immigrant’s background as bridge, rather than as inferior Political--Suffrage movement, vote for women in 1920, NAACP Schools—Small movement under Dewey, Kilpatrick (project method) activity-based but did not support vocational training Science as a model of inquiry Social Efficiency Progressives is the social efficiency model Eliot, Cubberly Sought social order through rational management by trained experts From city managers to university trained superintendents Schools like Factories -input/output Centralize control of schools, School Boards made up of professionals not parents Scientific management of the schools, IQ testing of students to track students into a divided curriculum Fit students for their place in society – going to school to learn about work, supported vocational training

Why study this period? Because the Modern School Model of K-12 developed during the Progressive Era. Public schools expanded rapidly Public schools added a high school level. 14-17 year olds--high school aged students. Dramatic increase of 14-17 year olds who attend school between 1890 and 1940. 1890 7% half of these students were in private schools 1920 32% most in public schools, few graduate 1940 70% attend but only half graduate Today, almost universal attendance-- 75% graduate HS with a diploma, many of those who dropout later get a GED.

Schools should prepare students for their future life Why study this period? Because ideas generated by the Social Efficiency Progressive Educators dominated 20th century schooling. Schools should prepare students for their future life Class, gender, and race/ethnicity determined FUNCTION in life Schools had to run more efficiently Schools should be run by experts Rise of centralization and bureaucracy Knowledge as static, could just be “learned” Some groups not capable of learning academic subjects Testing assisted in proper placement Racial/ethic, gender, and class discrimination

Why did schools change at the turn of the century? Increased Immigration Fewer children working Make schools must meet new needs—of the industrial modern society

Immigration Think about your ancestry. Did your ancestors (great-great-great grandparents or grandparents) immigrate to the United States between 1880s and 1930s? From where? “Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free….I lift my golden lamp beside the golden door!” (1886) 1910 78% of Chicago residents had one foreign born parent

Who is Cubberly referring to? Administrative Progressive Professor and Dean Ellwood Cubberly, Stanford University, School of Education 1919 stated in his book: “Largely illiterate, docile, often lacking in initiative, and almost wholly without the Anglo-Saxon conceptions of righteousness, liberty, law, order, public decency, and government, their coming has served to dilute tremendously our national stock and to weaken and corrupt our political life.” Who is Cubberly referring to?

Dean Cubberly is describing immigrants from: In the 1920s New Psychology helped to further the notion of racial and ethnic differences (IQ testing and the eugenics movement) 1921 immigrant quotas established by law using pre-1880 patterns Italy Poland Hungary Czechoslovakia Austria Russia Balkan states Jews from Eastern Europe and Russia

IQ Testing Movement Tozer, Chapter 5, 160 IQ Tests in World War I was biased against various nationalities, and minority groups Group Testing for those with limited English, limited school experience, living in poverty Produced low IQ Test Scores Thought to mean limited academic ability

As a Democratic Progressive Addams rejected this negative view of immigrant Culture Immigrants were not inferior, they contribute to a pluralistic society. HULL HOUSE

Changes in child labor practices brought more children to the public school population.

CHILD LABOR 1860s-1938 In 1900 284,000 children worked in mines, mills, and factories in the US 1903 Children in Philadelphia textile mills went on STRIKE Signs read “WE WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL” and “55 HOURS OR NOTHING!”

CHILD LABOR Progressive Era produced changes for children, many of whom worked. Federal Laws were passed in 1938. Compulsory school attendance laws also helped.

Relevance of Schooling Was “Book Learning” Relevant?

Compare the two course listings: Classical Academic Curriculum 1894 replaced with Charles Eliot had endorsed the academic curriculum in 1894, but changed his mind based on the new students attending public schools. Differentiated Curriculum Academic, general, vocational tracks

Differentiated Curriculum introduced vocational training programs [Gary, Indiana (Lathe Shop) High School]

Social Efficiency Progressives End of Common Curriculum Idea Defended the differentiated curriculum as democratic (Significant change in philosophy) A differentiated curriculum provides children from different backgrounds a different education Intended to fit children equally well for their particular life work

School Reforms of the Progressive Education Era 1. Compulsory School Attendance Laws in all States 2. Creation K-12 structure, but some groups were denied access to high school. 3. Sorting Machine Model Elimination of common curriculum in favor of a differentiated curriculum (academic, general, vocational) Placement in tracks through testing and profiling 4. Growing School Bureaucracy

What did centralization mean? Greater centralization of control in the district as well as greater state control, created larger bureaucracies Teachers were at the bottom of the hierarchy Decreasing authority for local communities

Familiar activities Dewey’s School Plan 1900 Purposes: Inquiry Heritage Democratic Community Tap Nature of Child: Social, Constructive Expressive, Curious Dewey’s School Plan 1900 Familiar activities

Philosopher John Dewey has made it to GOOGLE VIDEO To view it yourself: Enter 1937 John Dewey Only 34 seconds 1937 Dewey speaks about the basic needs of sustaining life and the need to connect to nature. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pUSAPYsFwI “Today’s students are endanger of losing contact with nature, with primitive reality.” “Schools present dates.” In education use “Concerns about shelter and food that condition human life and still do so.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opXKmwg8VQM&feature=related

Tap the child’s nature (curious, social, expressive, and constructive) Dewey’s Philosophy of Learning. Emphasized experience, non-authoritarian teaching approaches, active learning, the learning environment, and connecting to life. Dewey’s PSYCHOLOGY Tap the child’s nature (curious, social, expressive, and constructive) Growth is a product of the transaction between child and the environment (teacher is crucial) A free person could frame and execute purposes of his or her own (Tozer)

Practice Democracy in all aspects of life Practice Democracy in all aspects of life. Schools as democratic communities “For education to be most successful, it is necessary that people participate in democratic forms of life.” DEVELOPMENTAL VIEW DEMOCRATIC EQUALITY MODEL

Education is about possibilities not limits. Dewey cautions: “Reading is a harmful substitute for experience, it is all important in interpreting and expanding experience.” (Dewey, School and Society, 85). Why does Dewey believe this?

Is Dewey relevant today? Two theories that he combines… PSYCHOLOGY Dewey’s theory of learning is similar to theories studied today. Active learning Learning to learn Inquiry based learning SOCIAL THEORY Dewey’s view that democracy should be infused in all aspects of life aligns with today’s concerns about teaching for social justice.

Overview of Dewey’s view of knowledge An educated person has the power to gain more education 5. GROWTH Overview of Dewey’s view of knowledge 1.EXPERIENCE (past/present) 4. REFLECTION 2. PROBLEM? 3. INQUIRY Use scientific methods

Dewey’s Philosophy Role of Teacher Teachers must encourage students to find genuine problems which excite their interest, problems which can be explored and solved by engagement with the curriculum. Interest and effort leads to the student-curriculum integration that Dewey desires.

What are some weaknesses in Dewey’s philosophy of education? Does not articulate clearly or anticipate: How OCCUPATIONS will be misused as “vocational education”. How broader educational aims get lost and activity becomes an end in itself. (projects for what end?) How to make study of subject matter interdisciplinary, so much more demanding and challenging to organize. How to create a highly trained teacher How to challenge the powerful social efficiency movement.

In a Deweyan school, how does the child learn basic subject matter In a Deweyan school, how does the child learn basic subject matter? Not directly, but indirectly. The child’s introduction into the more formal subjects of the curriculum should be through the medium of these activities —sewing, gardening, cooking, carpentry.” How would Dewey’s school plan would provide experiences for older students? Dewey OCCUPATIONS of LIFE Not vocational training for jobs Progressive meant for Dewey, activities grow progressively out of student interests and past experiences, where new experiences build upon the each other. (Tozer)

“Education and Social Change” Dewey, 1937 The Social Frontier Schools have a role in the production of social change Right now, social confusion and conflict Preserve old social order or perpetuate current confusion Or use newer science, technology and cultural forces as allies to change schools to serve the new needs Produce insights, understanding, attitudes and habit of action Schools are not neutral sites, producing effects now Not to overthrow current social order but to reform it Must recognize powerful forces outside of schools which shape mind and character Difference between indoctrination and education Democratic education means the active participation of students in reaching conclusions and forming attributes Democracy is the frame of reference for social change Equal opportunity for all (teachers who are committed to this goal for their students) Personal voluntary participation is reaching decisions and executing them (right now, poor embodiment of democracy)