Fear for the future of democracy in the 1930s and 1940s led university educators to redefine the purpose of general education as preparation for democratic citizenship. This mobilized social scientists to engage in curricular reform and experiment with progressive pedagogical practices in new general education courses. These courses have been…

Educational historians have established that progressive education was a multifaceted, diversified approach to education reform, and have recognized that such a variegated phenomenon is difficult, if not impossible, to define. Instead, historians attempt to capture the complexity of progressive education either by articulating its principal…

The writings of Lester Frank Ward (1841-1913) on education over the last two decades of the 19th century were almost lost until they were brought to the attention of John Dewey (1859-1952). Ward had prophesied that the 20th century would require three universal curriculums to meet the American democratic prospect. Ward acknowledged that nobody…

Interest in progressive education ideas has often been accompanied by advocacy for greater use of interdisciplinary and holistic learning approaches, as these are considered beneficial in conceptual, curriculum, and pedagogical terms. The paper reviews the possibilities for progress on this basis and contextualises the paper around three…

Contemporary educational theorists focus on the significance of Dewey's conception of experience, learning-by-doing and collateral learning. In this essay, I reexamine the chapters of Dewey's "Democracy and Education," that pertain to thinking and highlight their relationship to Dewey's "How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation…

"Progressive education" is a term more often used than fully understood. Generations of authors have attempted to settle on a definition for this term, generally by looking to the work of John Dewey around the turn of the 20th century. Many have noted the variety of interpretations of this ideology, with some arguing that no single…

Addressing Social Issues in the Classroom and Beyond: The Pedagogical Efforts of Pioneers in the Field is comprised of essays that delineate the genesis and evolution of the thought and work of pioneers in the field of social issues and education. The authors (many of whom, themselves, are noted professors of education and who have done…

In this essay the author attempts to distinguish space as a social aspect of education, see it as a force that shapes the space called school, and evaluate the ability of that public space to represent the needs and desires of the constituents it serves, tackling the essential foundations driving progressive education; seeing and living in the…

Defines humanism as a philosophy based on the worth of human beings. Traces the history of humanistic education from its Renaissance roots in Europe through the rise of progressive education, teacher education, elementary education, vocational education, and curriculum development in the United States. Sees humanism as inextricably related to…

As information and communication technologies bring people, places, and events from around the world to desktops, telephones, and televisions, the economic, social, and cultural issues of the globe are becoming increasingly, unavoidably, our own (McLuhan, 1964). Diversity is thus a broader and more complex concept than ever before…

The essays in this collection, although written at different times, are all part of a process of forming a democratic progressive educational policy and practice for the United States in the new historical era. Each chapter groups essays that critique some aspect of existing public school practice, explores the limitations of current reform…