This section contains 170 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) |
Many progressive educators were also opposed to social reconstructionism. Many were "administrative progressives," who believed schools should be run like businesses. They took offense at the social reconstructionist attack on business. Educators such as David Snedden, Franklin Bobbitt, William Wirt, and Werrett Wallace Charters viewed the Depression as a natural fluctuation in the business cycle. They believed schools should use the Depression as an occasion for increased efficiency and derided the reconstructionists as "romantics" and "utopians." Burton P. Fowler of Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Delaware, warned educators against "short cuts to social efficiency." The superintendent of schools in Allentown, Pennsylvania, wrote that the reconstructionist challenge to local elites was doomed to failure. "Those of us who have not taken leave of our senses," he wrote, "know that the schools and schoolmasters are not generally going to be permitted to take the lead in changing...
This section contains 170 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) |