"The History of Education" Episode 2 Reflection

I found this episode of “The History of Education” quite interesting.  The thing that most struck me was how the ruling philosophies behind the structure and organization of American schools seemed to come and go in cycles.  For instance, in the early 1900s, schools were dark, crowded places where students were expected to simply retain information that was given to them by the teacher and then recite it back.  This method of schooling was dubbed “toeing the line,” which I found appropriate.  Then, the progressive John Dewey introduced the concept of kinesthetic learning, or learning by doing.  As a result, schools, like the one in the documentary in Gary, Indiana, adopted his theory and had students move from class to class and practice a wide range of skills such as animal husbandry, automotive repair, cooking, etc.  The idea behind Dewey’s theory was that students would be given the opportunity to “work, study, and play.”  The people from this generation who were interviewed in the documentary said that they preferred this kind of schooling and were able to enjoy school.  Students were also able to “help run the school” and were given ownership over their education by contributing to school-wide decisions.  However, this form of education was soon overturned by protests to the Gary plan and American schools became more traditional again.  As a country, we have continued to follow this back-and-forth pattern when decided how to best organize our schools.

Another thing from the episode that captured my attention was the disgraceful ways in which IQ testing has been used in American schools.  IQ tests have been used to predict individuals’ academic potential and, while these predictions are often inaccurate, they are still used to place said individuals into tracked programs that predetermine their future.  I feel that this is incredibly limiting and unfair to a great many students, and something that America should be ashamed of.