On the Question of Tendencies in American Education

Abstract

During the first half of the twentieth century, a number of pedagogical tendencies formed in the United States that were reflected not only in the literature on general pedagogical questions, but also in educational psychology, didactics, upbringing, and methods of instruction for individual subjects. One can also see the influence of various currents on practical work, e.g., reading primers and arithmetic textbooks, as well as varied research. By this we do not mean to say that the author of every book or article is a follower of some school of thought. On the contrary, a number of pedagogical works eclectically combine the features of different schools. Moreover, the representatives of one and the same doctrine differ among themselves on several points. Either way, in order to gain even an approximately correct understanding of the efforts of American educators and psychologists about even a specific problem of instruction or upbringing, one must be acquainted with the schools of pedagogical thought which formed in the first half of the present century.