Sunday, February 23, 2014

Progressive Education

When I was in grad school, I proofread a fellow candidate's thesis proposal, and in two pages, I found 64 grammar and spelling errors.  She was the product of a progressive high school and college whose goals included giving people a chance to progress even if "educationally challenged". That was the late 1970's.

Now we have a program in New York in which failing students can get full credit without attending class.They would instead watch video lessons and take tests online.  This program was exposed by the Times on the 9th in a scathing article.  Administrators for the program were not happy, and encouraged students to write in defending the program.  The results are between sad and laughable.  This is one of the many reasons our country has fallen so low in the world's standings for literacy.  The less we demand of our students, the less we reward them, the less we get from them.  How surprising.  Progressive education is not...progressive.... at all.