Progressive Education

Berube analyzes the three great educational reform movements in the United States. He shows how they have been shaped by outside societal forces: Progressive Education was an offshoot of the Progressive Movement; Equity Reform in the 1960s was influenced by the Civil Rights Movement; Excellence Reform in the last decade was a response to foreign economic competition. Within each matrix, common characteristics of each movement emerge. Progressive Education with its emphasis on critical thinking and child-centered schools set the stage for what was to follow. Equity Reform sought to complete the unfinished agenda of Progressive Education in educating the poor. Excellence Reform repudiated both in the name of higher standards and content-specific curriculums. The emergence of sophisticated educational research since the 1960s has influenced educational policy to be more research-based. Berube provides a necessary overview of the great movements in school reform over the last century.

This text presents the case for a progressivism which can generate effective and manageable school curricula, contribute to raising standards and meet educational needs.

Rhodes grants the truth of appearances to the cliches of the Jazz Age - the lost generation of writers, the era of mass consumption and the silver screen - while revealing their roots in a conservative ideology which sustained Republican rule.

As Murphy and Peck and the analysts brought together for this collection point out, self-government or democracy does not occur in a vacuum. Democracy will occur only when personal autonomy, critical thought, and the desire for self-government are encouraged by social institutions. In this collection, each writer examines a key institution within society and explores how that particular institution can be made more open and accessible. In the process they show that democratization involves far more than instituting a few democratic practices. They emphasize that the democratization of culture is crucial.

Although Durkheim's works on education were only published after his death, he had a lifelong interest in the subject. With contributions from leading scholars, this collection demonstrates the modern relevance of Durkheim's focus on the moral and social aspects of education.