1939: Progressive Education

Surveys and Research.

Many surveys, studies and research experiments concluded during 1939 gave added support and strength to the progressive education movement. The Regents Inquiry of New York State, which was appointed to investigate the cost and character of public education, came out in support of many of the practices long advocated by progressive educators. It found secondary school tradition bound by college entrance requirements and not helping youth to understand their world. It found schools isolated from their communities and youth uninformed about their immediate surroundings. Of great importance was the statement that cost per pupil did not necessarily determine the character of the education — that schools in less wealthy districts may give a better education for modern youth. The result of this survey, which received nationwide attention, is to strengthen the general education program and to change the curriculum offerings to young people.

The reports of the American Youth Commission added to the picture of the plight of youth in the contemporary scene. The three-year study of the needs of modern youth conducted by the Commission on the Secondary School Curriculum of the Progressive Education Association added much scientific information about youth. Its final report, including the publishing of a series of volumes in the general subject fields of the secondary school curriculum, recommended definite curricular changes to meet youth needs.

Two more states, Ohio and California, established a series of experimental secondary schools to pioneer for them in the education of adolescents. Such a move, which receives its inspiration from the national experiment of the Progressive Education Association now drawing to a close, exemplifies a trend which will spread widely in the next few years.

Evidence that progressive education is far better for youth than the old form appeared from two sources. Dr. J. W. Wrightstone published his extensive study of children in progressive and traditional schools and came out strongly for the new education. The Progressive Education Association in a detailed scientific study of the graduates of its experimental schools found that in college, the students from its more experimental schools outshone matched students from its less experimental schools.

In Colleges and Grades.

Liberalization of higher education continued during 1939. The attacks against progressive education as understood by President Robert M. Hutchins of the University of Chicago received decreasing attention. The general education movement in the liberal arts colleges gained much headway while the education of teachers received increasing attention through the establishment of a Commission on Teacher Education by the American Council on Education. An examination of the program of this Commission and the schools involved is sufficient evidence of its progressive character.

Elementary education continued its progressive approach to the solution of its problems. The publication of Their First Years in School by the Board of Education of the County of Los Angeles, a county encompassing 40 per cent of the children of California, gives an excellent example of progressive curriculum trends everywhere evident in elementary education. The greatest setback to elementary education has been the elimination and curtailment of kindergartens and nursery schools by school districts that have been hard pressed financially.

New Trend and the War.

A major trend, which promises to be of national significance, appeared in progressive circles in 1939. That trend, emphasizing resources and education, is directed toward using our human and material resources more wisely and more effectively. In educational institutions it embodies the effort to give youth an understanding of our national resources, a knowledge of how these might be used and a vision of the life achievable through planning.

The international situation cast a partial gloom over the progressive education movement. Basic principles of progressive education are in opposition to physical conflict; and yet there seems to be little choice if the democratic form of government is to be preserved.