Progressive Education
Progressive Education = Forward-Thinking Education
Progressive means something a bit different in education than it does in politics. Both political/ideological conservatives and liberal/progressives should appreciate the value that progressive schools such as ours offer. Forward-thinking education.
Our school is comprised of individual students and teachers from the fullest spectrum of ideologies and belief systems. Students and teachers strive to learn about and from each other: there is no standardized curriculum, content, or ideology forced upon everyone (or anyone). Students and teachers bring their authentic selves, identities, cultures, religions, and other uniqueness to school - they are not required to leave their true selves at home or “at the school door.”
We promote the values of freedom, democracy, and cooperation more by living them in our daily lives - less by lectures. Students are learning, participating in, and doing it now; they are not waiting for the future or when they “grow up” or “graduate” or “become adults.”
Progressive schools tend to be non-traditional. They tend to be more forward-thinking, freer from outside influence, and less constrained by long-standing institutions and ingrained ways of doing things. They tend to be more democratic and less authoritarian.
Progressive education tends to emphasize student-centered learning, student-directed learning, more learning by doing, more real life experiences, problem-solving, critical thinking, real-world participation, collaboration with others and cooperative project-based learning, and lived freedom and democracy.
Progressive learning environments tend consider students’ individual needs, desires, and interests. They tend to value what individual students and teachers bring to the table - their home languages, cultures, religions, faiths, belief systems, uniqueness, and personal experiences. They tend to trust, respect, and honor students. They tend to trust, respect, and honor teachers. They tend to trust, respect, and honor parents.