Progressive Education

Progressive education in the video it shows authentic learning opportunities for the students. The students went shopping at the store, used tools for construction, and even arts like dancing and art/drawing. So the big question is, Why haven’t we seen a more significant change in education? There could be a million reasons and here are just a few. Based on what I have learned through my years as an educator, this could be the reason why. Was there student choice in all those activities? Was goal-setting involved? Did students take ownership of their learning? We may not know but there were student conversations going on and students seemed to enjoy themselves. American schools base the value of the students’ capabilities on standardized tests. Just because a student can score in the highest percentile does not mean that the student is a good problem solver, can work under pressure to meet a deadline, or come up with an innovative solution to save a company from going bankrupt. Scoring in the highest percentile just means that you learned what you were told to learn. When you are told to learn specific thing creativity is put on hold and not touched till later sometimes never. According to Seth’s blog, People who like this stuff, states that “The opportunity is to create a pathway, a series of ever-increasing expectations and experiences that moves people from here to there.” This quote sticks out to me the most because it’s through authentic learning opportunities that students can use their imagination, creativity, and ingenious thinking to build something grand. Something that they never thought about building. Colleges look at standardized testing scores for acceptance and look at extracurricular activities that a student was involved in. They are in search for that “well-rounded” student, so why are grade schools evaluating students on just a standardized test. In my school district art was taken away from all elementary schools. Students are not exposed to real art until high school, which happens to be a graduation requirement.