Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-05-27
Progressive Education
Does 1t Really Represent the Cause
Of Freedom in the Field of Leorninq'?

gSSGut TIE SUuSS
Field of Learning?
nele Burr, Jr.
nenf Of Education.
n University
Itional school attempts to do much
by means of indoctrination. The
progressive school seeks to avoid
lindoctrination whenever feasible.
It tries to use other methods.
Americans are great believers in
freedom. They value freedom OF
speech. of the press. of religion
of assembly and of petition. They
seek freedom from fear and free
dom from want. Progressive edit
cation represents the cause Of
freedom in the field of learning
2. Progressive education recog-
|nizes the period of childhood as
Ia real part of life. not just as a
period of preparation for adult
hood. The child has a right TO
certain hopes and fears. certain
successes and failures, certain real
experiences. He has right to live
his childhood years as a child
not merely as a little person who
may later become a member Of
an adult society.
3. The concept of the teacher
in a progressive school is the con-
cept of a counselor, a guide and
"a friend-not that of a task
master or judge. The teacher
is tht Oldest and wiSest member
of the classroom group, the one
who has had more experience, the
one who has studied the fields Of
education and psychology and
who should be able to make use
Iof his superior knowledge in order
Ito help the pupils most effectively
toward the accomplishment of
their goals.
4. Progressive education has. as
one of it's cornerstones, the doc
trine of interest. Children and
adults are most successful in
learning those things which are
charged with interest for the stu
dent. If interest exists, extra effort
will be expended and greater
learnings will result.
The child in a progressive
school goes home and reports with
evident pleasure that he is study
ing about the Pilgrims or about
the interest paid on United
States Savings Bonds. He may
not state in so many words that
this study involves reading, writ
ing and arithmetic, but it does.
5. Experience is the best teacher
reasonable limits. The
progressive school is a personal
experience school-up to a certain
point. It is obvious that the per-
sonal experience of any individual
pupil cannot be broad enough or
deep enough to include all Of the
learnings which the child should
accumulate. Personal experience
has to be supplemented by vicari-
Gus experience, and both of them
should be used as bases for gen.
eralizing. But the fact remains
that actually doing things has
learning value far beyond the
learnings which come from read
ing about things in a book or from
listening to the teacher tell about
them.
Concern for Future
6. Progressive education places
greater emphasis than traditional
education upon the Importance OF
concomitant - accompanying -
learnings. The traditional school
is interested chiefly in primary
|learnings. These primary learn
Iings usually deal with facts and
figures, skills, knowledge Of places,
persons and dates; theories that
are widely accepted. The con-
Icomitants envisioned by the pro-
gressive school include attitudes,
Iappreciations. interests. judgments
and ideals.
All of these accompany the
learning of fact knowledges and
skills, and. so they are gained in
any sort of school. In a progress
Isive school, however, they are spe-
officially recognized and fostered as
indirect outcomes of the learning
process.
7. Progressive educators have
concern for the future-for taking
positive steps; that is, to make the
future of mankind better than the
past has been. Through educa-
ton which is virile, purposeful and
Ipragmatic, they feel we should at
tempt to achieve a future which
will more nearly satisfy mans
destiny than is the case today.
Society should improve by evo-
luton rather than by revolution.
But the process of evolution may
need to move more rapidly today
than in the past.