Curriculum Struggles in Late 19th And 20th Century

The progressive education movement and the scientific, realistic education movement are the main aims of interest. The progressive movement introduced by Dewey, whose lectures and writings had an influential role to the world educators, came up with the strategy that saw a tremendous change in the entire education structure that had been laid by the elementary education system (Kliebard, 2004).   Dewey’s movement also gained a lot of support from various plans like the Dalton plan of 1920 that emphasized broad topics. The Winnetka plan of 1919 outlined learning as a continuous process directed by the child’s objectives and capabilities. Finally, the Gary plan of 1908 embraced working, studying, and compiling full-year grades. On the other hand, the scientific, realistic education movement began in late 1900 by Edouard, a doctor by then at the Psychological Laboratory of Geneva University trying to respond to women in charge of special schools with abnormal children.    

The progressive education movement, which was part of the broader political and social reform named the progressive movement, mainly focused on elementary education (Kliebard, 2004). With the widespread of elementary education, while proving successful in eliminating illiteracy and improving the status of social understanding, schools had proven not yet effective in keeping track with the radical social changes that had been revolving around, and therefore changes needed to be made. With the increased rates of dissatisfaction among education reformers with the existing schools, the reformers had the urge to lay their ideas into use to set up experimental schools (Kliebard, 2004). By that time, a few practical schools were inexistent with their main goal was to eliminate the traditional rigorousness and split the fast and challenging subjects. The schools were characterized by three main traits, including the adoption of activity by each school, the worth of an individual was what the school mostly believed in, and the assumption that education should not be enacted to a child from the outside but should instead first examine the prospects within a child. 

With the following, Dewey’s work greatly influenced other mentors to develop a new philosophy that changed the whole elementary system. His theories mainly focused on equality and education, school and the society, and the child and the program. According to Dewey, the community’s outlook should be elaborated to the child every time around the classroom (Kliebard, 2004). He further elucidates that it has no end, meaning it’s something continuous and must be focused on social efficacy. With the movement’s influence, several schools like the playschool with the Walden School in New York were established. The campaign received a lot of support from different established plans like the Helen Dalton plan, which majorly emphasized learning broad topics. This Carleton Winnetka plan saw learning as a continuous process, and finally, the Gary plan established a school that embraced studying and working. The progressive education became more famous in 1920 and was not restricted to any country, with the Progressive Education Association being formed in 1919 in the United States. It later became an organization in 1955.

The scientific realist education movement was established in 1900 when Edouard responded to a petition from the women entrusted with a school meant for special children. The experience allowed him to comprehend the imperfections of the ordinary schools where more attention was given to suit what fits them rather than what was given to their thoughts. The big question to Edouard was on when there would be schools to measure led to the formulation of principles concerned with psychological required in the adaption of the children education under his experimental on tutoring and the psychology involved with the children (Kliebard, 2004). Edouard later played a more significant role in the establishment of Rousseau Institute in Geneva, which mainly dealt with sciences and attracted students from different parts of the globe. The theorist led by Claparede aimed to provide education with the scientific basis, an idea that significantly received support from Jean Piaget, who had a quiet experience in studies based on psychological and philosophical about the growth of the children. Piaget further depicted from his observations that the advance of intellect portrays four main stages and that the series is the same. However, the stages of development at different ages do vary depending on the cultural differences. 

The chronology of the progressive movement is depicted due to establishing the experimental schools that replaced the elemental education system. On the other hand, the chronology of the scientific realist education movement is laid out by changing the thought given to the children’s minds with a better understanding of their developmental stages. The tension created was on whether the introduction of the experimental schools would better fit the space left unfilled by the elemental system, which proved to be vital (Kliebard, 2004). The most critical milestones among the movement were replacing the elementary system with the experimental, accompanied by the massive establishment of learning institutions. The relationship between the two actions is based on better and improved strategies that best fit the educational demands to no small extent and to the size that also serves those studying needs.