Explain the radical and progressive education in the 20th century.

RADICAL AND PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION IN THE 20TH CENTURY

Education activities during the 20th built on the changes of the 19th century for thepurpose of addressing the socio economic and political challenges which arose from the world wars. There was a move to modernization which brought the generation gap. This gap was expressed in two ways;

1. The young questioned and challenged and rejected the established values of society. This was seen by many student unrests in the 1960s.2. The old people resisted social economic and political change
As a result of this generation gap and problems created by it there was created an arena where different classes competed. This led to massive expansion and experimentation in education to satisfy increasing expectations. Two main movements came up progressivism and radicalism.

PROGRESSIVISM
This was an ideological crusade for social, economic and political justice based on the belief in the power of human intelligence to deal with progress. This movement saw man as being capable of using science to control the world. Democracy was
encouraged as a means of overcoming traditional ways as well as establishing rational society to enable individuals realize their full potential. According to progressivisms education should build a better society. The advocated the elimination of the social classes. They advocated a broad based education in order to take care of the diverse needs of children. In amrita they founded' The progressive Association' in 1918 which remained active until 1935. It was dominant; one of the most important advocates of progressivism was john Dewey.

JOHN DEWEY (1859-1952)
He taught in a number of universities and finally in Chicago university where he established a university elementary school and laboratory for research and experiment in a new ideas and methods in education. At this school activities were based on
home life and basic industries rather than formal education. There was a deliberate effort to establish as many connections between everyday life experiences and formal work at school e.i. school was based on the Childs home experiences. This is how
Dewey defined education ‘a continuing reconstruction of experience’ he wrote a book, experience and education and in this book, this is how he described education. Intelligently directed development of possibilities inherited in ordinary experience
Dewey said that all experiences were important so school should not be isolated from the wider experiences. These are his educational ideas;

1. He was opposed to the traditional view of the curriculum as packaged in syllabuses, subjects and books. He realized that books were important because they stored human experiences but he said they should not replace actual
experiences in learning. He viewed teaching in terms of learning and experience and the main element being experience.

2. He also challenged the traditional teacher centered approach in education which took the teacher as the sole or main authority forcing pupils to follow a rigid system of regulation and rules. Teachers approach should be less direct a
facilitator to direct pupils as they go through their experiences. The child can also contribute to his own learning in line with the democratic way of thinking in America at that time.

3. He proposed a child centered approach to learning in order to promote progress in learning. He said that the teacher needs to understand children in general and individually in order to understand their needs and interests so as
to create a relevant learning environment i.e. he advocated knowledge of educational psychology for teachers.

4. He advocated for a closer relationship between school and life. School should not be preparation for life but it is life itself. Education should help a person solve practical problems. Education should therefore be based on social needs of that society. He advocated for practical training depending on the society e.g. cooking, carpentry school and life must go together.

5. Dewey recognized that education is a process where the individual learns independently to adjust to life in a democratic society. He advocated for the addressing of individual differences in education.

6. He advocated for a problem solving method of learning that demands thinking and reasoning children must constantly be presented with challenges. School life should strengthen a person o overcome obstacles rather than avoiding them.

7. He emphasized social interaction in learning advocated constructive work and doing it in a social cooperative way arguing that the only way to prepare for social life is to engage in it. This sort of learning prepares children for good citizenship. He is the father of project method. A co operative study of a real life situation.

MARIA MONTESSORI
She is known mainly for two things;

1. Design of materials for sensory training, visual and auditory materials particularly to children. Enough and relevant materials for learning.

2. Activity method, Montessori teacher becomes the guide and the organizer. Teacher then becomes an observer as learning takes place.

RADICAL EDUCATION
The most radical views with regard to education reforms during the 20th century are by the de scholars. The main proponents
1. Were Ivan Illich book called 'deschooling society'(1971)
2. Everet reamer book called' school is dead' (1971)
3. Paul Goodman book' compulsory miseducation (1971).

These were radicals from both Europe and USA. Their views were that schools were agents of social control rather than liberation. They argued school had confused its objectives and in so doing had destroyed the learners many of whom left with nothing to show.

The following are their main arguments/ideas
1. Education and schooling are not necessarily the same and therefore should not be confused with each other. You don’t need school to be educated.

2. As an institutionalized process schools make people believe they are the only proper channels of genuine education and yet they favor the rich and encourage competition among learners.

3. Schools have an anti educational effect on society. According to them school involves itself in many activities which it performs poorly and therefore leads to failure. Schooling infringes on people liberty by forcing children to attend school whether they wish to or not. In addition, the syllabus is derived by other people and is very rigid in both content and timing.

4. Schooling increases rather than decreases social inequalities. It favors children from the late and more affluent families. Schools were instruments of economic and cultural imperialism. The curriculum was determined by the middle class and only valued certain types of knowledge e.g. popular music is passionately loved by young people but is not part of the official curriculum.
As result of this argument Illich gave the following suggestions;
schooling of society. He said that the school only emphasized the hidden curriculum e.g. competition of prizes, dependence on teachers raving for certs/diplomas.

b. He said that the school is the enemy of learning and process of education and should be avoided. He advocated for alternatives that allowed people to learn how when and where they liked e.g. develop learning net works in which knowledgeable people and less knowledgeable people would be linked. This could be done through informal institutions such as museums, libraries, seminars, markets etc where learning would not be separated from other activates. According to him, this could also be done at the workplace so as not to face difficulties associated with classroom. He also suggested that everybody and everything in the world should be a learning resource. He called for exchanges and arrangements for peer matching – establishing
agencies for contacting people with similar interests.

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marto answered the question on May 20, 2019 at 06:58