How did the trend of progressive education in the United States come into being?

(A) the transformation of American society

/kloc-at the end of 0/9, the United States completed modern industrialization and became a world economic power. The completion of industrialization has caused great adjustment of social structure and profound changes in society. With the increase of material wealth, the process of industrialization has also brought a series of social problems. The early 20th century was a period of great transformation in American history. This transformation is manifested in: a great turning point from an agricultural country to an industrial country, a great turning point from liberal capitalism to monopoly capitalism, and a great turning point from colonial culture to independent culture.

Transformation from an agricultural country to an industrial country After the Civil War, a new industry marked by electronic industry appeared in the United States, which enabled the United States to complete the transformation from the first scientific and technological revolution to the second scientific and technological revolution. Due to the rapid development of industry, a large number of skilled workers are urgently needed. How can we solve the problem of training skilled workers? This also put forward new requirements for education at that time. As a result, a "manual training movement" emerged in the United States, and the result of this movement was as Woodward said in 1903: "Due to the multiplication of manual schools, we have solved all the problems of technicians needed by the country." In essence, this is a comprehensive education that combines general education with technical education. It marks the beginning of the history of American comprehensive middle schools and the beginning of American vocational education movement.

Agricultural mechanization is an important part of industrialization. From the Civil War to the 1930s, American agriculture experienced a semi-mechanized process with animal power as the main power to a mechanized process with steam engines and internal combustion engines as the basic power. Agricultural mechanization has brought great changes to rural life: it has transformed the dominant rural life from agricultural civilization to industrial civilization; Transforming agricultural population into industrial population; Agricultural mechanization is the same as industrialization, and the division of labor is too fine to carry out agronomic education in the workplace.

2. The transition from liberal capitalism to monopoly capitalism

/kloc-at the end of 0/9, the first climax of enterprise merger appeared in American history. "During the period of 1870- 1905, the output of iron and steel industry increased nine times, but the number of enterprises decreased from 1808 to 608; During the period of 1880- 1905, the tonnage of American shipbuilding doubled, while the shipyard decreased by half. According to the statistics of 1890, 7/8 of the country's wealth is occupied by18 of the population, and 1% of the population has more wealth than the other 99%. " The concentration of capital and production to a certain extent is the emergence of monopoly. The process of industrialization in the United States has concentrated wealth in the hands of very few people, which has intensified the polarization between the rich and the poor.

3. The transformation from colonial culture to independent culture

The reason why the progressive educational trend of thought in the United States can have a lasting and profound influence is based on its agreement with American culture, and it is also the representative of American culture in this particular period. From the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the 20th century, American society faced an unprecedented cultural crisis. This is mainly manifested in:

(1) Struggle with colonial culture. The creation of American culture can be traced back to Franklin's time. Franklin's anti-British political thought, utilitarian educational view and the practice of liberal arts middle school he founded are proof. Emerson believes that the education transplanted from Europe suppresses children's nature and is divorced from their reality. Therefore, he advocates the establishment of schools based on democratic society according to children's nature. Emerson is regarded as the representative of American idealism, the symbol of American dream era and an organic part of early progressivism.

(2) Industrial culture. The result of the rapid development of American industry is not the same prosperity, but polarization. Polarization has aroused great concern of social humanists. /kloc-there was a movement to resettle the poor at the end of 0/9. The resettlement movement for the poor put forward two important concepts-"community service" and "social enjoyment". The purpose of providing community services is to improve the lives of the poor and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, so they put forward the idea of social enjoyment. In the practice of * * * enjoyment, people think that * * * enjoyment is not only the enjoyment of social wealth, but also the sharing of industrial civilization. Let those young illiterate people who live in slums or come from rural areas understand industry and become the masters of industry, that is, industrial culture. Therefore, the culture of industrial people refers to advocating the spirit of cooperation and imparting industrial knowledge. The task of industrial culture falls on education and becomes an important mission of progressive education.

(3) The immigration problem has become increasingly prominent. The United States is an immigrant country. Due to a large number of immigrants entering the United States, the immigration problem has become increasingly prominent. How to adapt immigrants to the development of American industry and society is the focus of immigrants, which has aroused extensive discussion in society.

(B) Ideological basis

The emergence of progressive education thought is deeply influenced by European naturalism, Darwin's theory of evolution and Dewey's pragmatism represented by Rousseau, Pestalozzi and others.

1. European naturalism directly influenced American progressive education thought. Rousseau, a French naturalist educator, said in his masterpiece Emile:

According to Pestalozzi, a Swiss democratic educator,

Pestalozzi also stressed that

Rousseau's naturalistic education thought has been carried forward through the theory and practice of Pestalozzi and others, which has had a great influence on American education.

The inadaptability of traditional education to the changed American society due to its own defects and the introduction of European naturalism education thought have created conditions for the rise of progressive education movement.

2. Darwin's theory of evolution

1859, the British biologist Darwin proposed in his masterpiece "Origin of Species" that the form of life is the product of long-term changes, and the reasons for the changes are not only environmental factors, but also based on the principle of "turning waste into use". The main contents of Darwin's theory of evolution are:

3. Dewey's empirical naturalism

Dewey's thought provides a theoretical basis for progressive education. Dewey developed pragmatism, because he not only integrated other people's educational thoughts into a complete ideological system, but also applied this ideological system to various fields. He opposed the philosophical method based on fixed principles and adopted empirical, experimental or instrumental methods. It can be said that Dewey's empirical naturalism is a clear and systematic application of pragmatism, a general theory about truth, knowledge and value, in the field of practice.