The three articles “Selling Progressive Education to Albertans, 1935 – 1953” by Amy von Heyking, “Growing Up Progressive? Part I: Going to Elementary School in 1940s Ontario” and“Growing Up Progressive? Part II : Going to High School in 1950s Ontario” by Robert M. Stamp focused on the shift of Canadian education from traditionalism to progressivism. Heyking’s article identified three categories of progressive education: the first category was the “Development of the Individual Through Socialization”; the second category was that students should develop a understanding through a knowledge of important ideas and facts; and third, to develop skills and abilities.[1] While reading both articles by Stamp, it was clear that traditional education characteristics were still prevalent within a progressive educational system for both elementary and high schools. In regards to Heyking’s first category which required the establishment of a happy frame of mind and the development of thinking and reasoning, Stamp recognized that the implementation was not uniform amongst all teachers and aspects of the curriculum.[2] In a classroom that was supposed to encourage “activity-oriented learning in a happy, wholesome environment”, Stamp provided evidence that this was not always the case.[3] While some classrooms emphasized socialization such as the creation of “rhythm” bands where students created music together with wooden sticks and metallic triangles, others discouraged group work and made children sit straight and quietly in their desks leading to inconsistency.[4] With reference to the progressive movement away from students memorizing facts as opposed to thinking and reasoning[5], Stamp provided an example from Grade 13 Ontario students who still demonstrated the method of memorization.[6] Stamp provided the example of Ontario high school students’ preparation for their provincial department exams.[7] These exams required the memorization of Shakespearian plays, information from history textbooks, French and Latin declensions and conjugations, math, and science which would determine their qualification and admission for universities.[8] Additionally, the method of memorization also did not encourage the development of skills and abilities that was required in Heyking’s third category of progressive education.[9]
[1]Amy von Heyking, “Selling Progressive Education to Albertans, 1935-1953,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 343.
[3]Robert M. Stamp, “Growing Up Progressive? Part I: Going to Elementary School in 1940s Ontario.” Historical Studies in Education vol. 17, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 189.
[4]Ibid., 189.
[5]Amy von Heyking, “Selling Progressive Education to Albertans, 1935-1953”, 343.
[6]Robert M. Stamp,“Growing Up Progressive? Part II : Going to High School in 1950s Ontario,” Historical Studies in Education vol. 17, no. 2 (Fall 2005): 324.
[7]Ibid., 324.
[8]Ibid., 324.
[9]Amy von Heyking, “Selling Progressive Education to Albertans, 1935-1953”, 343.
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