Progressive Education Since World War 2 (WWII)
The era since World War II has seen dramatic changes in a variety of areas for American society. Many of those changes make a profound and deep impact on the nation’s future, but probably none so much as the changes in the American educational system.
In the decades since World War II, the American education establishment gradually came to implement the progressive educational ideas that were popular in the early twentieth century. Although the traditional methods of rote memory and factual, teacher-centered instruction were still used for a while in classrooms throughout the country, the ideas of creative, student-centered instruction soon became the norm. While many would adamantly promote and defend these progressive philosophies, the resulting product of ill-informed, superficially educated children seems to argue otherwise.
In addition to changes in the curriculum department, American education also has been seeing increased involvement by the federal government. In the years after World War II an explosion of court cases and legislation occurred, which attempted to make American schools offer an equal education experience to every child. In recent years, the emphasis on equality has spilled over into the classroom, and thus today’s schools commonly train children to embrace a multicultural, diverse world – a mentality that often dismisses or negatively portrays Western values and philosophical principles.
The educational policies that have occurred since World War II have definitely shaped the American educational system. Unfortunately, the American education system is in poor shape. This library section gives an overview of America’s recent education history and the steps that led us to the dilemmas of our current educational system.
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