Progressive education aims to bring democratic ideals into the classroom by respecting diversity and developing critical thinking skills. It began in the late 19th century as Americans questioned education's role in creating uniform citizens. Progressive educators like John Dewey wanted schools to teach community and participation. Dewey tested his ideas in a laboratory school and others later founded the Progressive Education Association to promote child-centered, socially focused learning through projects and collaboration rather than separate academic and vocational training. While progressive schools still exist, their ideals became less accepted in the 1950s amid Cold War fears and conservatism, though modern public education seeks a balance with traditional methods.

1. Progressive Education
By Samantha Gwinn
Progressive education is, in a sentence, a type of education that tries to bring
the ideas and practices of democracy into the classroom. There are two essential
elements of progressive education-respect for diversity and the development of
critical, socially engaged intelligence. In other words, progressive education should
be child-centered and emphasize the need to address social questions. The
progressive movement for education in America started around the late 19th/early
20th century. Americans were beginning to take a deeper look at the purposes
behind education system, that at the time were to create cultural uniformity and
dutiful citizens. Some began to criticizes these values, like John Dewey, and wanted
children to learn more about community and democratic participation.
Dewey tested his progressive ideas in his Laboratory School at the University
of Chicago. Others such as Francis W. Parker and Ella Flagg Young started
implementing his ideas in their schools and in 1919 the Progressive Education
Association was founded. Dewey and his group opposed the national movement that
wanted to separate academics from vocational training, wanting to combine the two
in schools. For years progressive education continued to grow in school, to “make
every scholar a working man and every working man a scholar.” An organizational
structure on project, problems and questions, active learning, taking the children
seriously, community, collaboration, social justice,and intrinsic motivation are just
some of the things that progressive education emphasized.
Progressive education was more sharply opposed starting in the 1950s,
when cold war anxiety and cultural conservatism was consuming the American
citizens. Progressive schools still exist, with practices such as open classrooms,
multiage approaches, social curriculum, etc, but their ideals are not as commonly
accepted as they once were. In the modern society, public education has been about
finding a balance between progressive and traditional education so that the student
leaves well educated and well rounded.