Reflection On Progressivism

John Dewey is considered to have been a pedagogical progressivist, meaning he focused on education reform by first reforming the way that the teaching was actually done. In the past education focused on teaching children facts, mostly by learning with repetition. This was a problem because it taught children information but not how to use that mindfulness with critical thinking in real-world situations. These problems led John Dewey to write a series of articles that described his views on teaching and how it should be improved upon, this is called “My Pedagogic Creed”. Dewey wanted to equally incorporate a psychological, the abilities and interest of the student, and sociological, the needs and commitments of the society, aspect into teaching. He believed that children were born with blank slates and throughout their lives they would receive guidance “unconsciously” and be molded into adults (Dewey, 1). So the introduction of these aspects would help the molded children into better citizens and that would help drive the social economy into prosperity and overall a better democratic society.

It is my sincere hope that every student should look forward to coming into the classroom ready for new adventures and a whole new world of information every day. Education continually brings us new adventures just waiting for us to experience its wonder and possibilities. I believe that students, when presented with a wide variety of interesting lessons, can become interested and motivated in a way that they never have before.

A: The difference between the progressivist view and the revisionist view is that the progressivist view holds a more positive attitude upon human population adapting to agriculture. From the progressivist’s mindset, agriculture is a skilled way to get more foods and required less amount of work. The progressivist also claimed adaption to agricultural gave humans free time to invent the Parthenon and B minor mass. On the contrary, the revisionist view holds a negative outlook on agriculture. They argued that farmers dedicated more time to work for foods, compared to hunter-gatherers. In addition, they claimed hunter-gatherers contained more nutritions in their bodies because their diet consists of more variety of foods. While farmers mainly feed on crops.

The Progressive Era was a period of social activism and political reform that grew from the 1890s to the 1920s. Social reformers and journalists, like Jane Addams, Jacob Riis, and Ida Tarbell were some of the powerful voices for progressivism. “They concentrated on exposing the evils of corporate greed, combating fear of immigrants, and urging Americans to think hard about what democracy meant.” Many progressive reformers wanted to end corruption in the government, regulate business practices, address health hazards, and improve working conditions. It was also an era of conservationists. Conservationists are people who protect and preserve the environment and wildlife. Throughout the Progressive Era, there were many conservationists who wrote and described nature, but the most well-known figure in conservation was John Muir. John Muir worked to protect Earth’s beauty by traveling and exploring nature, co-founding the Sierra Club, and by influencing others through his writings and by showing some of the most important people how the wildlife was magnificent.

Being regarded as father of progressive education, John Dewey’s most valuable contribution lied in the promotion of practical approach to education. His progressive education method underlined the importance of experience in learning, which was contradictory to the earlier days’ traditional authoritarian and rote learning educational approach. John Dewey believed in democracy in education, suggesting a learn process by participating and doing. His educational approach also put an emphasis on the development of relevant and practical life skills for students.

Progressivism began as a series of local movements and included many different efforts to improve the working society. It was a movement by the people to curb the power of special interest. More specifically it was a protest by an aroused citizenry against the excessive power of urban bosses, corporate moguls, and corrupt elected officials. Slowly these efforts became national efforts. Progressives were hopeful that society was capable of improvement and that continued growth and advancement were the nation’s destiny. Progressives also believed that growth and progress could not continue to occur recklessly as they had not continue to occur recklessly, as they had in the late nineteenth century. Another progressive impulse was a belief in the

Progressivism was a wide and varied movement that changed American values and lifestyles having everlasting impact on American history.

The Progressive Movement sought to impose significant restrictions on capitalism in the interests of democracy. These Progressive ideals were later continued during the New Deal. Progressivism was primarily a midde class movement and thus sought to reform capitalism and end some of its worst excesses in order to preserve traditional representative democracy. During the late nineteenth century, monopolies were identified as an example of capitalist excess that not only threated economic stability but also the principles of democracy itself as these monopolies were able to influence politics to their benefit. Thus, Progressives helped to push through trust busting statutes such as the Sherman Act, Clayton Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act which restricted the formation of cartels and prohibited collusive acts that restrained free trade.

During the Industrial Revolution, America became industrial, machinery, factories, and mass production, and shortly after, progressivism (1890-1920) began. Progressivism was a period of social activism and political reforms across the United States of America. Progressivism purpose was to eliminate the corruption in the government that the Industrial Revolution had caused. A lot of change, reforms, and laws were made during this period. Food regulations, prohibition laws, labor laws, and women suffrage was huge issues during the Progressive Era. The pictures support progressivism because progressivism was all about changing the United States, and some ways they did that was with child labor laws and women suffrage and the pictures show that

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, America struggled with finding comfort and equality through mass industrial maltreatment, political duels, and hypocrisies; this point in time is what historians named Progressive Era (1890- 1920). In this era, it was believed that America was in dire need of improvement in areas such as the economy, government, and social justice. Progressivism contributed in changing how people viewed government and inspired many to fight for their right to be; however, progressivism was subject to bias, being influenced by Christian morals, which featured racial, ethnic, and class prejudices. Still the people took action and ignited reforms across the nation that changed the texture of American society

Progressivism and the Progressive Era significantly changed the United States. The fight against corruption in the government, authority, politics, and economics is still being fought to this day. While some ideals have faded away, like prohibition, the progressives and progressive era shaped America and laid down the groundwork for more reform to come.

Progressivism implies a philosophy that welcomes innovations and reforms in the political, economic, and social order. The Progressive movement, 1901 to 1917, was ultimately the triumph of conservatism rather than a victory for liberalism. In a general sense, the conservative goals of this period justified the Liberal reforms enacted by Progressive leaders. Deviating from the "traditional" definition of conservatism (a resistance to change and a disposition of hostility to innovations in the political, social, and economic order), the Conservatist triumph was in the sense that there was an effort to maintain basic social and economic relations vital to a capitalist society. The Progressive leaders essentially wanted to perpetuate Liberal

social order. The Progressive movement, 1901 to 1917, was ultimately the triumph of conservatism rather than a

John Dewey, another educational philosopher believed “Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself.” (Inc.) He felt that learning took place only when students had internalized what they had gained through experience and practiced it in their own lives. In a progressive classroom, the teacher designs experiences for students with the idea that through experience, students build knowledge and skills. A society of individuals conforming to studying flashcards may be good, but a society of literate individuals consciously aware of why and how the facts on the flashcards and in mass media can solve new problems is better.

As an educator I need to be flexible in my teaching styles, what works one year, may not work the next, and even day to day can change. I believe that it is important that I reflect daily on what was successful and what could have gone better. I then make the adjustments to my teaching. As a whole though, my teaching approach I believe is very similar the the progressivism theory of education. “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” (Cohen, 1999). In Knight (2008) he states that “Children have a natural desire to learn and discover things about the world around them.” (p. 104).   This couldn’t be more true in my opinion, my preschoolers are constantly asking questions about the world around them, I have had some pretty interesting meal time conversations at school based on the questions and conversations about life these littles bring up! “Children’s interest, therefore, are the natural starting point for their learning experience.” (p. 104). This past school year in my morning class are students were really into bugs-so we did a whole unit on bugs, this