Progressive Traditionalism:

A long time ago, my dad mentioned to me that discipline in our age is difficult because we do not work with our children. He said that in his day, his dad left him a list of farm chores to do, went to work as a carpenter, and then came home and helped his wife and children finish up on the work he had assigned that morning. As a greater challenge, my grandfather assigned my father the whole list and had him delegate the work among his siblings. It taught my father management skills that he used for his entire life. Not all of the children in my father’s immediate family went on to college, but they all succeeded in their own way. Two of the four children went on to college and professional degrees. Two worked as laborers. All of them were responsible and productive in the community and their families. What my father mentioned about his work beside his father is that it taught him responsibility and respect. He saw his father work and respected his authority because he saw his father’s expertise and ethics while they worked together. In a depression, my father’s family was fed, dressed and functioning.

Meier states that we must integrate the classroom in such a way that the students become a part of the same community as the adults. She insists that the teachers must maintain authority intellectually. The most compelling part of Meier’s theory is that she has applied it and we see that it is effective. Just as the students in this class have applied some of the ideas we have learned –difficulty papers and poetry

analysis– and have seen that they are effective in the classroom, Meier has applied her theories. To integrate progressive and traditional concepts, insisting on respect among students and teachers for each other and themselves, yet fostering intellectual thought, works. It works because it allows children to learn in an environment of respect, where they see their teachers working and delivering the goods. It divorces them from the pressures of social hierarchy and frees them to experience another type of challenge: realizing their own intellectual potential.

This is our last blog, and I have to say that this summer I will be making lists of lesson ideas. This chapter will be copied and put in my ideas folder. I believe that the concept here rings true as something we need desperately in our schools. When children take advanced classes just to avoid the mainstream population, there is something wrong.

The challenge will be to find a school that has adopted these ideas. I hear some schools have vertical teams that work to ensure progress through grade school and high school. I hear other schools try to mask grade inflation through no-flunk policies. I find that disrespectful to the students. Hiding from them their weaknesses is cruel. An F now at 16 can be a learning experience. A failure in the workforce can mean devastating consequences. It seems that Meier has got the idea. Many of our lessons during this semester are valid and meaningful, but to find a school that has these principles in place as an active part of the learning process may be a difficult task. I’ll let you know where I find it, if it’s out there.