PROGRESSIVISM

A theory of education that is concerned with “learning by doing” that children learn best when pursuing

their own interests and satisfying their own needs. (Foundations of American Education)

The Progressive education philosophy was established in America from the mid 1920s through the mid

1950s. John Dewey was its foremost proponent. One of his beliefs was that the school should improve the way

of life of our citizens through experiencing freedom and democracy in schools. Shared decision making, planning

of teachers with students, student-selected topics are all aspects. Books are tools, rather than authority.

Progressivists believe that education should focus on the whole child, rather than on the content or the

teacher. This educational philosophy stresses that students should test ideas by active experimentation. Learning

is rooted in the questions of learners that arise through experiencing the world. It is active, not passive. The learner

is a problem solver and thinker who makes meaning through his or her individual experience in the physical and

cultural context. Effective teachers provide experiences so that students can learn by doing.

Characteristics of progressivism:

* Education based on needs and interests of students

* Students learn by doing as well as from textbooks

* Teaching through field trips and games

* Emphasis on natural and social sciences

* Experiential learning

* Grouping by interest and abilities

Purpose of Schooling

Progressivists believe the purpose of schooling should be not about competition, but about being able to

cooperate. Being able to develop problem-solving and decision-making skills is a major part of progressivism

and what progressivists believe.

“Dewey envisioned such a democratic community to be pluralistic in nature and include moral, economic, and

educational goals.” - Taylor Manderfield)

Curriculum

Lerner described the curriculum as child centered, peer centered, growth centered , action centered,

process and change centered, equalty centered, and also community centered. This would make the student learn

in a different way and they would experience science by exploring their immediate physical world. All students

would learn in a "social" kind of way.

Curriculum content is derived from student interests and questions. The scientific method is used by

progressivist educators so that students can study matter and events systematically and first hand. The emphasis

is on process-how one comes to know.

Classroom Setting

Though each teacher should arrange his/her classroom according to their students’ interests and needs, each

progressive classroom should provide the following:

- A democratic, safe environment where students feel understood, appreciated and supported.

- A small student/teacher ratio

- A physical environment that allows group work

- An area where students could show the product of their work

- Resources for students to use in their projects

COMPARISON BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND PROGRESSIVISM

STRENGTHS OF PROGRESSIVISM:

* All children are worthy as individuals

* Progressivism is an agent of change

* The standards are forward thinking and must support preparation for challenging work in college and beyond

– changing the world

Traditional Progressive

School is a preparation for life. School is a part of life.

Learners are passive absorbers of information and

authority.

Learners are active participants, problem solvers, and

planners.

Teachers are sources of information and authority. Teachers are facilitators, guides who foster thinking.

Parents are outsiders and uninvolved. Parents are the primary teachers, goal setters, and

planners, and serve as resources.

Community is separate from school, except for

funding.

Community is an extension of the classroom.

Decision-making is centrally based and

administratively delivered.

Decision-making is shared by all constituent groups.

Program is determined by external criteria,

particularly test results.

Program is determined by mission, philosophy, and

goals for graduates.

Learning is linear, with factual accumulation and skill

mastery.

Learning is spiral, with depth and breadth as goals.

Knowledge is absorbed through lectures, worksheets,

and texts.

Knowledge is constructed through play, direct

experience, and social interaction.

Instruction is linear and largely based on correct

answers.

Instruction is related to central questions and inquiry,

often generated by the children.

Disciplines, particularly language and math, are

separated.

Disciplines are integrated as children make

connections.

Skills are taught discretely and are viewed as goals. Skills are related to content and are viewed as tools.

Assessment is norm-referenced, external, and graded. Assessment is benchmarked, has many forms, and is

progress-oriented.

Success is competitively based, derived from recall

and memory, and specific to a time/place.

Success is determined through application over time,

through collaboration.

Products are the end point. Products are subsumed by process considerations.

Intelligence is a measure of linguistic and

logical/mathematical abilities.

Intelligence is recognized as varied, includes the arts,

and is measured in real-life problem-solving.

School is a task to be endured. School is a challenging and fun part of life.

WEAKNESSES OF PROGRESSIVISM

* Teachers must be purposeful in their preparation, cunning in their methods and steadfast in maintaining the

values and expectations of the school

* Teachers must have their opportunities to expand their classroom practice.

* Willingness to take responsibility to oneself and to the world seriously.

DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM Dialectical materialism (sometimes abbreviated diamat) is a philosophy of science and nature, based on

the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It was inspired by dialectic and materialist philosophical

traditions. The main idea of dialectical materialism lies in the concept of the evolution of the natural world and

the emergence of new qualities of being at new stages of evolution.

"Engels made constant use of the metaphysical insight that the higher level of existence emerges from and

has its roots in the lower; that the higher level constitutes a new order of being with its irreducible laws; and that

this process of evolutionary advance is governed by laws of development which reflect basic properties of 'matter

in motion as a whole'." - Z. A. Jordan

Dialectics

Dialectics is the science of the general and abstract laws of the development of nature, society and thought.

In Dialectical Materialism, the laws of dialectics developed with a materialist point of view.

Materialism

Materialism is a realist philosophy of science, which holds that the world is material; all phenomena in

the universe consist of “matter in motion” according to natural laws. Materialism asserts the primacy of the

material world: matter precedes thought. Thought is a reflection of material world.

“The ideal is nothing else than the material world reflected by the human mind, and translated into forms of

thought.” – Karl Marx

In simplified form, Dialectical Materialism states that ideas and thoughts of human changes in a dialectical

process due to the movement and existence of the matter. Dialectical Materialism is not only a philosophy but

also a complete way of thinking to explain the reality.

Dialectical materialism as a heuristic in Science

Dialectical materialism is not, and never has been, a programmatic method for solving particular physical

problems. Rather, a dialectical analysis provides an overview and a set of warning signs against particular forms

of dogmatism and narrowness of thought. It tells us:

* Remember that history may leave an important trace.

* Remember that being and becoming are dual aspects of nature.

* Remember that conditions change and that the conditions necessary to the initiation of some process

may be destroyed by the process itself.

* Remember to pay attention to real objects in time and space and not lose them in utterly idealized

abstractions.

* Remember that qualitative effects of context and interaction may be lost when phenomena are isolated

* Remember that all the other caveats are only reminders and warning signs whose application to different

circumstances of the real world is contingent

(Richard Lewontin and Stephen Jay Gould)

IMPACT OF DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM ON THE THEORY

AND PRACTICE OF EDUCATION

AIMS OF EDUCATION

a. Physical Aim

Education is to maintain and improve physical health of the individual and make him an efficient

citizen. Education is to use the physical means and physical environment to bring about the highest wellbeing of

citizens. There is no contradictions between the individual and the society. The education of the individual being

proceeds through the collective, and the collective grows and becomes stronger through education of each of its

members.

b. Intellectual Aim

Education aims at creating conditions which may prove useful in creating a congenial and intellectual

environment and society. Intellectual development takes place in experiential terms through practical application

of ideas, theories and plans in social practices.

c. Cultural and aesthetic aim

Schools aim at teaching that true culture is inherent in work in a classless society and people themselves

are the producers, retailers and consumers of culture.

d. Moral Aim

The old morality founded in the “Commandments” of God is regarded as fraud designed to dull the minds

of workers and peasants. School teaches new standards in belief and conduct suiting the new society in which

there will be no exploitations of human being by his fellowmen.

e. Science and technology aim

Progress and invention in the fields of medicine, armament production, space travels and research is meant

to prove the superiority of the communist way of life over the capitalist one.

f. Self-sufficient aim

Give children education to make them self-sufficient so that they become productive and thus responsible

citizens. The aim of education is to familiarise the child with the basic principles of production processes and to

teach him the skills of handling the instruments of production.

g. Promotion of communist ideology

Disseminate and promote communistic ideology to produce active builders of communism.

h. Development of harmonious personalities

All children have the right to education. Education must produce harmoniously developed personalities.

Children must be physically strong, intellectually enlightened, morally pure and spiritually wealthy. Education

must develop cognitive abilities through scientific knowledge.

CURRICULUM

a. Scientific and mathematics

Emphasises specialized knowledge of science and mathematics. It does not put emphasis on

humanities and social sciences

b. Physical education and work experience

Physical education and work-experience are equally important in the curriculum

c. Language, literature, art and music

The knowledge of language of local language, literature, art and music also finds a place in the

curriculum

d. General knowledge and technical subjects

Innate capacities are to be translated into action with the help of general knowledge, technical and

vocational subjects.

e. Labour

The central pre- occupation of the school and a subject has to be studied in all economic, social

political, aesthetic and scientific aspects

f. Social change and revolution

Techniques and social change and revolution, from that form of society in which one class can

exploit another class to a thoroughly the school and college years

g. History of class struggle

Dialectic material and history of class struggle are similarly, spread over the curriculum is one

form or another.

METHODS OF TEACHING

a. Productive Activity

Productive activity is the basis of all teaching and every subject is taught through correlation with

productive activities

b. Work and play

Work is not only a subject matter but a method. According to Marx, by work is meant real work-

work that results in the production of real goods. Emphasis is placed on the industrial output as well as on the

humanisation of mind and the refinement of man carried out by work.

Vocational and cultural aim is realised through the method of work. The work is alternated with

ample play.

DISCIPLINE

Concept of discipline is based on collectivism and mutual assistance. Everyone has mutual respect

for each other considering everyone a friend and brother. Children act on the principle of one for all and all for

one. Since dialectical materialism has given birth to communism, as such children have freedom within a certain

frame work. Communist ideology is held supreme and adherence to it is of supreme importance. It conditions the

individual behaviour and allows freedom within its framework.