Curriculum Change from Common School Education Era to Progressive Era

The transition from Common School Education Era to Progressive Era in the American education demonstrates how changes in the society, politics and economy affect the knowledge concentration of the Americans.

The early form of public education in America was highly localized and was enjoyed only by wealthy people. It was during the 19th century when Jefferson, the first American leader to introduce the concept of public school system, supported the move to make education available to all children regardless of social status and religion.True to this objective, American children enjoyed free public education at elementary level before the end of the 19th century. These schools were funded by local taxes and are locally controlled. Because of its rural concentration, these were mostly small one-room schools with a single teacher teaching the students all at once, regardless of age.

Curriculum of the common schools was typically centered to teaching reading, writing and arithmetic, history, geography and math. Students’ knowledge are usually gauged through a recitals held at the end of the year.However, with the rise of urbanization and corporate revolution, criticisms about the Common School Era arose. Americans became more critical about the subject and skills taught in school.

Critics of the Common School Era argued that the subject taught is already impractical and obsolete. This led to the rise of the Progressive Education Era during the 20th century.During the progressive Education Era, the education curriculum shift focus from mastery of body knowledge to more specialized fields of study such as medicine, law, business and teaching among others. This shift in the focus of the education curriculum was brought about by progressive’s belief that highest efficiency will be attained if the person doing the job is expert on it.

Also, government and industries run by centralized administration became a trend. Thus, there was a need for people knowledgeable with more specialized skills to occupy the specialized positions in the industrialized society.Undoubtedly, technological advancement and learning methods has greatly contributed to the development of the public educational system in America. The success of the public educational system is gauge depending on its ability to cope with the demands of the society.Reference:Spring, Joel (2007).

The American School: From the Puritans to No Child Left Behind. USA: McGraw-Hill.