ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Progressive Teaching Methods: An Opposing Opinion

Updated on December 31, 2016
Diane Lockridge profile image

Lockridge holds an EdS in Curriculum and Instruction, an MS in Elementary Education, and a BA in History. She also homeschools her children.

Dorothy L. Sayers suggests that in order “to produce a society of educated people … we must turn back the wheel of progress”. Indeed progressive teaching techniques have not progressed education at all, but have in reality repressed legitimate learning.

Progressive educational trends are weak for many reasons, such as not tending to the learning needs of the students, promoting relativity, and putting child in charge of the classroom.

Progressive teachers tend to teach with the experimental and experiential teaching methods. While there is a time and place for experiments and discovery, teaching primarily through those means discounts information that others have compiled in textbooks. Progressivism often employs only the one technique of learning preference and virtually excludes the needs of other learners.

What's so bad about progressive teaching techniques?
What's so bad about progressive teaching techniques? | Source

Traditional teachers characteristically employ a variety of teaching techniques into the daily classroom curriculum. For the visual learner the teacher works on the chalkboard or whiteboard while explaining concepts. This also allows students who are auditory or reading/writing learners to learn in their preference as well. Aural learners also benefit from the teacher and other students reading aloud from the textbook during normal class time. Traditional teachers don't neglect kinesthetic learners in the classroom either; teachers often involve activities or teach motions to songs and ideas to help them remember the concepts.

Relativity-based teaching denies anything that isn’t experienced for oneself. In that case, I can’t know that zero gravity exists because I’ve never been in space. Education is built on accepting the findings of other people, and is ridiculous to build a system against the theory altogether. Indeed, students can realize for themselves things by performing experiments, but not all knowledge needs first-hand experienced in order to believe it.

When progressive classrooms allow students to dictate the curriculum it belittles the teacher authority, and limits the possibilities what can and should be taught during the year. Young students especially don’t know what they don’t know, thus they won’t know what they need to know before they can learn other things. Teaching students with progressive methods imparts neither knowledge nor skill, which is the definition of teaching, according to the American Heritage Dictionary.

Progressive methods often teach only when in the context, which leaves curriculums weak . Traditionalists teach concepts in order and sequence, building a foundation of knowledge so that the student can adequately understand “deeper” concepts once they are presented. While progressive methods claim to teach students, in this author’s opinion it fails to give students the adequate opportunity to learn.

REFERENCES

Saywer, D. The Lost Tools of Learning. Menlo Park, CA: Center for Independent Education, 1948.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)