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Pragmatic Roots
Pragmatic ontology holds that reality is in the realm of everyday, personal experience.
Therefore, since none of us have had an identical set of life experiences, reality is somewhat
different for all of us.
With regard to truth, pragmatisms view is that ideas should be tested for their utility. If
an idea works out in practice, then we can accept it, use it, and call it truth. If an idea doesnt
work, the pragmatist scraps the idea, learns from his experience, and tries something new. To a
pragmatist then, truth is what works! A corollary of this statement is: Truth is not absolute,
but relative to the perceiver and the circumstances in a given time and place. According to this
view, what works for me in a given situation is truth for me. But it may not be truth for you!
Why not? Because your circumstances might be different, and all truth is relative to its
surrounding circumstances of place and time. For example, would it have been a truth in
1955 to say, man can walk on the Moon? No! Would this have been truth in 1969? Yes!
This year, would it be a truth that man can create an exact replica of a living human being
through cloning? No! What will be the answer to this question in the year 2010? Stay tuned
and see. Another example that I have found to be a truth for me is that when Im memorizing
notes that Ive taken, I can get the job done in one-half the usual amount of time if Ive read the
notes through, once carefully, on the day that I took them. This is truth for me, but is it for you?
Only practical, individual experience would determine this. Truth then is never absolute to a
pragmatist. It constantly changes with time and circumstances.
The pragmatist believes that ethically, whether or not something is good or bad, is
determined by the public test. In other words, if we try something out, it will prove to be either
good or bad.
Aesthetically, that which is beautiful is whatever squares with the public taste. For
example, if most people think that a certain actress or model is a beautiful woman, then she is by
definition beautiful.
The leading spokesman for progressivism was the academic philosopher John Dewey. In
his writings, Dewey emphasized a generalized problem-solving procedure, which is quite similar
to the scientific method. This problem-solving procedure is a means by which we find out what
works in a given situation. Dewey saw this problem-solving procedure as one-in-the-same with
the process of education. He believed that the procedure could be effectively applied to
problems in the physical or biological sciences, or to a social problem or even to a personal
problem
Most progressives are committed to change and progress in our society. They feel that
change is inevitable and that we should therefore learn how to manage it so that mankind can be
in the saddle directing change, rather than having events in the saddle leading us to some
unknown destination. Most progressives feel that the process of inquiry or problem-solving is
the proper tool for managing change. Thus, such a process has utility for us. John Dewey,
however, was never really interested in the utility of our education, i.e., whether or not our
inquiry would bring us material progress. Dewey was a "purist. He felt that education is
growth, and growing or development is life, hence education is life. Therefore, unlike classical
educators, Dewey did not view education as preparation for life. He wrote that .the
educational process has no end beyond itself; it is its own end; the educational process is one of
continual reorganizing, reconstructing, transforming. Dewey felt then that the only purpose of
education is more education. It must be that way so that we can keep up with our constantly
changing environment. In this way, our society can constantly renew, sustain and propagate
itself. Progress, then, is just a by-product.
Some progressives think that Dewey came on too strong with his growth metaphor. He
defended himself, however, in his book Democracy and Education:
Since growth is characteristic of life, education is all one with growth; it has no end
beyond itself. The criterion of the value of school education is the extent in which it
creates a desire for continued growth and supplies the means for making the desire
effective in fact.
Do you agree with this view or is the value of a school education whether or not it can get
you a job?
Education Theory
Progressives are very much aware that circumstances in the world are constantly
changing and that knowledge is constantly expanding. Therefore, they think that is futile to try
to teach a given body of knowledge in the hope that it will serve the student well in his life for 10
or 20 years. Progressives point out that in certain fields such as biology or astronomy,
knowledge is changing so fast that any textbook is outdated in some very important ways as soon
as it appears on the market. In view of the dilemmas with knowledge cited above, progressives
contend that we should teach students how to think instead of what to think. In other words,
students would acquire a process of thinking and learning which will enable them to inquire into
any problem or body of knowledge, both now and in the future. To a progressive, the process of
learning is far more important than any content or subject matter learned. The process endures,
but most content is quickly outdated.
In a progressives classroom, there is a desire to deal with open, controversial questions
and problems. By contrast, classical educators are more inclined to deal with closed, pedantic
questions with safe, right answers.
Finally, a very important tenet of progressive ideology is that the teacher is a fellow-
learner along with the student. Progressives view the teachers proper role as that of a stimulator
of interests, a helper and a resource person. Unlike classical educators who dispense knowledge
they consider crucial, progressives assist students in inquiring. In a sense, progressives are a
kind of research project director. Progressive teachers are less directive in dealing with students
than classical educators.
Classroom Seating
Ability Grouping
The progressive teacher does not think of himself as a math teacher or a music teacher.
He thinks of himself as a teacher of children or young people. This mind set is an important
one. In other words, the progressive does not view himself as a subject matter expert whose job
it is to pass along what he knows. Consequently, progressives use little or no lecture, recitation
and demonstrations. As fellow inquirers, they favor the problem-solving method or the project
method. They prefer to deal with problems that arise out of the genuinely felt needs and interests
of their students. For example, in an 11th grade English class, after a unit on Shakespeare, some
students might be motivated to write and produce their own Elizabethan play as a project. A
progressive teacher would encourage this interest and work with them on the project as a guide
or resource person. In carrying out such a project, students would have to use or apply much
present knowledge. In addition, they would uncover much new knowledge through their
research. Progressives feel that it is in the use of knowledge that students really learn in a
meaningful way. A living awareness of subject matter is superior to memorizing subject
matter prescribed by some authority and giving it back on a test.
The reflective inquiry method favored by Dewey and other progressives is a generalized
problem solving process that can be applied to any problem. It includes several steps:
2. articulating the problem. This involves thinking about the problem until you have it
is a form that can be realistically investigated. This means stating the problem in a
testable form.
4. gathering data. This involves getting relevant information that will elaborate on the
hypothesis. Data gathering can be from any relevant academic discipline. Various
methods are used. At times one or more techniques such as the following are used:
formal empirical experimentation, observation, polling, library research, interviewing,
etc.
5. testing the hypothesis. This includes seeing how your hypothesis square with the data
you have been able to assemble. One logically would either accept, reject or modify
(i.e., change) the hypothesis after comparing it with the data.
6. drawing appropriate conclusions. These conclusions are stated and constitute the
solution to the problem.
The progressive does not show any preference for curriculum materials. He does not rely
solely upon textbooks. When he uses a textbook, it is usually in a selective way. He does not
feel compelled to cover it all. The progressive selectively uses a variety of materials. Materials
are selected on the basis of their utility in assembling data concerning a problem under
investigation.
Progressives do not give a higher priority to one subject over another one in the
curriculum. They believe in an interdisciplinary curriculum. By this, I mean that in gathering
data about a particular problem, it would usually be obvious that several academic disciplines
bear on the problem. For example, in inquiring into a complex social problem, data from several
of the social sciences (such as economics, sociology, anthropology, political science, history,
geography, and social psychology) as well as the field of religion might be relevant. Hence, one
lets his interests guide him to certain content.
Discipline
Progressives believe that we must have rules but that the best discipline is student-self
discipline. In their view, self-discipline is learned gradually when the child is given
opportunities to control himself, while being prompted by a set of rules that he has had an
opportunity to help formulate. Discipline for the progressive is a learning experience.
Progressives believe teachers should impose few if any rules of behavior. Ideally, a class should
discuss and adopt a set of rules by voting. Students should enforce the rules through peer
pressure and by policing each other. Progressives reason that this involves students in the moral
dimension of discipline. They reject the disciplinary efforts of classical educators by claiming
that such efforts just exact a penaltythey do not cause the offender to consider the
consequences of his act on other people. Progressives were the first to advocate student self-
government. They feel that even young students, with the proper guidance, have the intellectual
and emotional maturity to participate in governing their own behavior.
Critics of progressivism claim that it has no clear theory regarding testing and evaluation.
It may be true that this is the weakest part of the progressive platform. Generally, progressives
like to ascertain how well students can solve problemsindividually or in a group context.
Hence, they often evaluate student reports and projects. Being pragmatic, however, they may
occasionally use both essay and various types of objective test questions. One way in which
progressives differ a great deal from classical educators is that they often permit some degree of
student self-evaluation to figure into the grading process. Critics charge that students are not
equipped to do this fairly and objectively and that the practice demonstrates that progressives do
not enforce high academic standards.
Finally, many progressives advocate a policy of social promotions so that even students
who fail the work of a given grade level are passed on to the next grade level so that they can
avoid being stigmatized by failure, and thus remain with classmates of the same chronological
age. Critics claim that this practice leads to graduating functionally illiterate students who are
really victims of the process because they incorrectly feel that they have achieved something.
In addition, critics claim that diplomas falsely certify to prospective employers that such students
have skills and knowledge when, in fact, they do not.
References