Are you among those parents who prefer value experience over learning facts for their children? Do you want to make your child problem solvers and planners? If the answer to all those questions is yes, then you must prefer progressive private schools in Los Angeles for your children.
In this article, we will discuss what is progressive education, the history of progressive education, and the difference between progressive and traditional education. Let's discuss this.
What is Progressive Education?
Progressive education is a philosophy that values experience over learning facts. Progressive education recognizes that learning should be authentic and enjoyable and that the best teachers are facilitators who foster thinking, encourage children to play an active role in their own development. Teachers know how important is overall development for the children. Parents must always prefer progressive elementary schools.
History of Progressive Education:
Progressive education and progressive schools like The Oaks School have their roots in the 19th-century reform movement called 'Progressivism.' This reform movement "Progressivism" had a profound impact on culture, journalism, social services, politics, and education. This movement came due to the problems created by the rapid urbanization and industrialization in the United States during that time period.
Chicago, during this time, was the center of the progressivism movement. Philosophers and educators such as Francis Parker, Clara Bell Baker, and John Dewey were some of the key reformers in the area of education. John Dewey was influential in changing the focus of education from the school to the student. He believed that the formal school environment was not adequate preparation for a student's life in a 'vibrant democracy.' He understood that children were naturally playful and curious and through these qualities that the learning could take place.
How does Progressive education differ from traditional schools?
Traditional schools and progressive schools both have the same motive to equip students with academic skills and foster the development of children.
- In traditional schools tend to rely on a defined set of knowledge that students are expected to master, while progressive schools strive to ensure that the innate sense of wonder that all children must be cultivated into a love of learning that will last a lifetime.
- Progressive teachers stand beside their students and guide them on the path to taking ownership of their education and let them explore or discover things.
- Students in progressive schools are required to explore and question the world around them, past present and future, and to engage with the world with an understanding of different perspectives. Academic and practical skills are integrated into meaningful contexts.
- In traditional schools, children are absorbers of knowledge while the children in progressive schools are active participants, problem solvers, and planners.
- Teachers in progressive schools are sources of information and foster thinking of students while teachers in the traditional school are sources of information only.
Progressive Schools:
Many educational institutions have adopted progressive education but let's discuss one of the best progressive schools in Los Angeles i.e. The Oaks School. The school was founded in 1986 and has created the best progressive education classroom in Los Angeles so that children are able to share in the responsibility of their own education and feel safe to make mistakes, and master skills.
At the Oaks School, the idea of progressive education is based on three important beliefs.
- Children learn best when their ideas are taken seriously and when they are encouraged to be themselves.
- The purpose of education is to provide children with the tools and skills to work for a more just and equitable society.
- Students must have provided the best education that is organized around questions, issues, and problems that require critical thinking.
Do you still have any questions? No worries! Ask anything and anytime.
