Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track

5. Antidemocratic Schooling

There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active cooperation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying.

—John Dewey

There are three root ideas underlying the ethical, political, and social structure of the United States. These three ideas serve as guiding principles for the nation as a whole. They ...