Progressive and Traditional Views of Education
He recognises the importance of both the traditionalist
emphasis on the communication of important subject matter, and
the progressivist emphasis on the unfoldment of the studentââ¬â¢s
already innate potential as being fundamental to that process.
Most people take so for granted the institutions they are born
amongst that they find it almost impossible to reflect on them
in any serious way. The book begins by trying to show that our
schools are dysfunctional because they try to perform three
incompatible tasks at the same timeââ¬â1. socializing children
to the norms, conventions and values of their society; 2.
shaping their minds to perceive the truth about the world, by
engaging them in the academic enterprise that makes them
skeptical of the norms, conventions, and values of their and
other societies; 3. aiming to ensure the development of each
childââ¬â¢s individual potential as far as possible. Having three
distinct aims that constantly undermine each other makes for an
institution that is ineffective at doing any of them.
Kieran Egan