When There is No One to 'Look in the Eye'
Dear Diane,
It was nice to see a few "old" (meaning both my age and people I've known for a long time) friends make it ontoThe Nation's list of the most influential "progressives" of the 20th century. Ancient history.
The Nation's listing also led me back to thinking about that word: Progressive. You and many of your present and former colleagues use the word in the one sense that I least identify with: the belief in efficiency as an end in itself, modernity, productivity, scientific management, etc.
But the use of the word as an approach to teaching/learning and the role of schooling as exemplified by John Dewey, Jean Piaget, the many distinguished women who led the early Bank Street explorations, et al stems from quite a different place. Of course, there were overlaps—just as sometimes there are today between Rick Hess and me; John Holt was, after all, "for" homeschooling and for "progressive" education. We cannot sacrifice
