Education In The Progressive Era

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It’s hard to believe that education was once held at a very low standard. Attendances rates were low, and dropout rates were very high. Children would only attend school for a few years, then leave due to high demands of working in factories, coal mines, and farms. Education was very informal. A child was considered lucky to receive a decent education. Teachers worked in lonely one room schoolhouses with little to no teaching materials. Not to mention, their salaries were incredibly low. As America begun to experience an increase of urbanization, industrialization and immigration, there became a demand of a more structured schooling system. This era was known as the Progressive Era. John Dewey was a very influential educational philosopher…show more content…
Active participation was very critical. There was two main goals: respect for diversity and the development of critical and socially engaged intelligence. Progressive Education encouraged the recognition of an individual’s abilities, interest, ideas, needs and cultural identity. It also wanted individuals to understand and participate efficiently and effectively in communities to reach a common good. This movement emphasized the importance of an individual. The emotional, artistic, and creative aspect of human development was important to Progressive…show more content…
The NEA was originally called The National Teachers Association. Before the NEA was created, teachers’ unions were only established on state level. The union was so effectively, it pushed Congress to established a Federal Department of Education in 1867. The National Education Association was a teacher union formed to create policies regarding education and influence the national debate about schools and education. The NEA focused on improving teacher’s pay, establishing retirement pensions and strengthening the public school system. The main goal of the NEA was to improve the conditions of the children and teachers. They focused a lot of problems within education. The wanted to provide a better curriculum, improve teachers’ salaries and working conditions, conduct smaller classrooms, and etc. The NEA also addressed important societal issues regarding education. in 1899, the NEA’s Department of Indian Education researched how government’s policies of assimilation and isolation of American Indians negatively impacted their education. The NEA also strived to outlaw child labor, and research it’s effect of a child’s education and

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