Progressive education

Progressive education is a movement in education, which departs from the Prussian model of schooling by incorporating tools and techniques that boost autonomy and self-learning. However, unlike free learning, progressive education does not give up on the concept of a teacher. In free learning, all fellow human beings assist in learning in various way. There is no concept of a teacher or tutor (see: Do we need teachers?). Progressive education may have its root in Rousseau's "Emile" in which a seemingly omniscient tutor provided a near-optimum guidance to a child. For more on its history and theory, see Progressive education at Wikipedia.

Peter Gray admires progressive educators for their efforts, noble intent and skillset, however, he knows that mass production of fantastic progressive educators is not possible. A good progressive educator is equivalent to a genius, and genius is rare, by definition. This is why Bill Gates is wrong about education. Gates believes in a mass education of great teachers. To add to the cost of perfect progressive education, the perfect tutor dedicates her life to perfect tutoring of an ideal child (rather than the whole classroom). In other words: one genius in, one genius out. In free learning, given the right conditions and freedom, we can mass produce genius at little cost and with not tutoring!

This is an excerpt from Gray's essay on progressive education (source):

Progressive educators often cite Rousseau as an early proponent of their views. Rousseau’s sole work on education was his book Émile, first published in 1760, which is a fictional account of the education of a single boy. If this book has any real-world application at all it would be to the education of a prince. Émile’s teacher is a tutor, whose sole job, sole mission in life, is the education of this one boy, a teacher-student ratio of one to one. The tutor, by Rousseau’s description, is a sort of superhero. He is not only extraordinarily knowledgeable in all subjects, but he understands Émile inside and out, more so than it is ever possible (I would say) for any actual human being to understand another human being. He knows all of the boy’s desires, at any given time, and he knows exactly what stimuli to provide at any time to maximize the educational benefits that will accrue from the boy’s acting on those desires. Thus, the tutor creates an environment in which Émile is always doing just what he wants to do, yet is learning precisely the lessons that the tutor has masterfully laid out for him. [...] Progressive educational theory is way too demanding of teachers to be practical on any sort of mass scale, and it makes unrealistic assumptions about the predictability and visibility of human desires and motives. At best, on a mass scale, progressive education can simply help to modulate the harshness of traditional methods and add a bit of self-direction and creativity to students’ lives in school

In a separate analysis, Gray clearly shows that "Emile" is largely utopian. It incorporates a few fallacies that torment the education systems around the world to this day. See: Pity poor Émile!

This glossary entry is used to explain "I would never send my kids to school" (2017-2024) by Piotr Wozniak