Chapter 9 Progressivism

Some people may think that teaching a classroom full of students is done in one style and one style only. When actually there are different philosophies of teaching. Four main philosophies are Perenialism, Essentialism, Romanticism, and Progressivism. These are all different style in which a school is ran and how the teachers teach with in that school. Progressivism is the most resent way of teaching today. The author Ryan Cooper states in the book Those Who Can, Teach that “Progressive educators believe that the place to being an education is with the student rather than with the subject matter. (Cooper pg 309) Basically not just cram the information of all the subjects in the student’s heads, and take in consideration who the student is as a person.

In the article Progressive Education Why It’s Hard to Beat, But Also Hard to Find

By Alfie Kohn found at the web address

http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/progressive.htm he explains how a progressive educator attends to the whole child “Progressive educators are concerned with helping children become not only good learners but also good people.” (Kohn) That the educational system shouldn’t just focus on just academic but the growth of the child as a person too. Another way progressive educators teach is “Children learn with and from one another in a caring community, and that’s true of moral as well as academic learning.” They are saying that a student can’t just learn from himself or herself and from the teacher but by working with other students as well, and not only learning form them academically but also morally.