The Dalton School
The Dalton School

Author: Susan F. Semel

Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13:

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The Dalton School, an independent, progressive school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, was founded in 1919 by Helen Parkhurst. Influenced by educational leaders such as Maria Montessori, Frederic Burk, Carlton Washburne, and John Dewey, Helen Parkhurst established a child-centered, progressive school which attempted to incorporate the notion of a democratic community within the boundaries of an educational program. This innovative program became known as The Dalton Plan. In this book, Susan F. Semel tells the story of The Dalton School from its earliest beginnings through the present day. Her story traces the history of progressive education within the walls of The Dalton School, focusing on the school's heads, including Charlotte Durham, Donald Barr and Gardner Dunnan. During certain periods of the school's history, as progressive education waxed and waned in the educational community at large and as educators responded to demands for more content-based curriculum, The Dalton Plan was modified. At other times, the school was impervious to the infusion of current educational thought. Consequently, during some periods of its history, The Dalton School was on the cutting edge of educational reform while, during others, the school swam against the tide of «alternative education» or neo-progressivism to favor a traditional back-to-basics approach. Ultimately, Semel uses the original Dalton Plan as a yardstick by which to measure what has happened to progressive education in the larger world. While Susan Semel concludes that The Dalton School, in its present state, is not the same school that Helen Parkhurst founded, it still employs an educational program that pays attention to the needs of a multicultural society and reconfirms the spirit of child-centered pedagogy as an important concern of the Dalton community.

Democracy and Education
Democracy and Education

Author: John Dewey

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 1916

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13:

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. Renewal of Life by Transmission. The most notable distinction between living and inanimate things is that the former maintain themselves by renewal. A stone when struck resists. If its resistance is greater than the force of the blow struck, it remains outwardly unchanged. Otherwise, it is shattered into smaller bits. Never does the stone attempt to react in such a way that it may maintain itself against the blow, much less so as to render the blow a contributing factor to its own continued action. While the living thing may easily be crushed by superior force, it none the less tries to turn the energies which act upon it into means of its own further existence. If it cannot do so, it does not just split into smaller pieces (at least in the higher forms of life), but loses its identity as a living thing. As long as it endures, it struggles to use surrounding energies in its own behalf. It uses light, air, moisture, and the material of soil. To say that it uses them is to say that it turns them into means of its own conservation. As long as it is growing, the energy it expends in thus turning the environment to account is more than compensated for by the return it gets: it grows. Understanding the word "control" in this sense, it may be said that a living being is one that subjugates and controls for its own continued activity the energies that would otherwise use it up. Life is a self-renewing process through action upon the environment.

U.S. Education Reform and National Security
U.S. Education Reform and National Security

Author: Joel I. Klein

Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations

Published: 2014-05-14

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 087609521X

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The United States' failure to educate its students leaves them unprepared to compete and threatens the country's ability to thrive in a global economy and maintain its leadership role. This report notes that while the United States invests more in K-12 public education than many other developed countries, its students are ill prepared to compete with their global peers. According to the results of the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international assessment that measures the performance of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics, and science every three years, U.S. students rank fourteenth in reading, twenty-fifth in math, and seventeenth in science compared to students in other industrialized countries. The lack of preparedness poses threats on five national security fronts: economic growth and competitiveness, physical safety, intellectual property, U.S. global awareness, and U.S. unity and cohesion, says the report. Too many young people are not employable in an increasingly high-skilled and global economy, and too many are not qualified to join the military because they are physically unfit, have criminal records, or have an inadequate level of education. The report proposes three overarching policy recommendations: implement educational expectations and assessments in subjects vital to protecting national security; make structural changes to provide students with good choices; and, launch a "national security readiness audit" to hold schools and policymakers accountable for results and to raise public awareness.

Women in American Education, 1820-1955
Women in American Education, 1820-1955

Author: June Edwards

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2001-11-30

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 0313074070

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The lives and contributions of eight female educators who influenced modern American schools are described, as well as the historical context in which the women lived and worked. These women challenged the male establishment, broke barriers, and utilized techniques heralded today as radical reforms, such as teacher facilitation, student initiative, active learning, meaning construction, and practical applications of knowledge. They stressed open-ended research, creativity, and the integration of subject matter, and they promoted critical thinking, peer cooperation, and shared teacher/student decision-making. The women's methods were radical in their own day, and in many ways still are. The female reformers described in this book opened the doors of education to the larger public, often working with people excluded from traditional institutions, including females, the very young, the mentally disabled, immigrants of all ages, homemakers, and African-American youth. Without government subsidy, most of these educators had to work with meager resources and constantly raise money for their schools and other projects by giving speeches, writing books and articles, soliciting wealthy donors, and even organizing bazaars and bake sales. With enormous confidence in the worth of their endeavors, they persevered despite many hardships and gave their entire lives to creating new educational and career opportunities.