This chapter explores education in the early twentieth century by using pragmatism to present progressivism and its offshoot, social reconstructionism. Not content to examine the father of progressive education (John Dewey) this chapter also looks at the grandfathers of progressive education (G. Stanley Hall and Francis Parker). It separates out progressive education into three areas: child-centered progressivism, administrative progressivism, and social reconstructionism. It concludes with a discussion on the educational legacies of this period and recommendations for further reading.

1. 1.

   George Counts,Dare the Schools Build a New Social Order? (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978), 4.

2. 2.

   Ibid.

3. 3.

   James D. Anderson,The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860–1935 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988).

4. 4.

   Harold Benjamin,The Saber-Tooth Curriculum, Including Other Lectures in the History of Paleolithic Education, by J. Abner Peddiwell, PH.D. and Several Tequila Daisies, as told to Raymond Wayne (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1939).

5. 5.

   Theodore Brameld,Design for America: An Educational Exploration of the Future of Democracy for Senior High Schools and Junior Colleges (New York: Hinds, Hayden & Eldredge, Inc., 1945).

6. 6.

   Raymond Callahan,Education and the Cult of Efficiency: A Study of the Social Forces That Have Shaped the Administration of the Public Schools (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962).

7. 7.

   George Counts,Dare the Schools Build a New Social Order? A Challenge to Teachers and the New Social Order (New York: The John Day Company, 1932).

8. 8.

   Lawrence Cremin,The Transformation of the School: Progressivism in American Education 1876–1957 (New York: Vintage Books, 1961).

9. 9.

   John Dewey,Democracy and Education (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916).

10. 10.

    Edward Krug,The Shaping of the American High School 1880–1920 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1964).

11. 11.

    George Sanchez,Forgotten People: A Study of New Mexicans (Albuquerque: C. Horn Publishing, 1940).

12. 12.

    Clif Stratton,Education for Empire: American Schools, Race, and the Paths of Good Citizenship (Oakland: University of California Press, 2016).

13. 13.

    Vivian T. Thayer, et al.Reorganizing Secondary Education (New York: D. Appleton-Century, Co., 1939).

14. 14.

    David Tyack,The One Best System: A History of American Urban Education (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974).

15. 15.

    Ralph Tyler,Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949).

Authors and Affiliations

1. Gillham Hall 5000-C, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA

   Edward Janak

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Correspondence toEdward Janak.

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