What is Democracy in American Education? An Interpretation for the Elementary School

241 Pages·011.334 MB·English

by  Hickerson, James Allen

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.2)3 Hickerson, Janes Allen, 1901-
1942 V/hat is democracy in American educa-
.H4c tion; an interpretation for the elemen­
tary school... New York, 1942.
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WHAT IS DEMOCRACY IN AMERICAN EDUCATION
An Interpretation for the Elementary School
J. Allen Jiickerson
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Education in the School of Education of
New York University
1942
V
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PREFACE
Most people want to live In peace. They want to grow
up to manhood and womanhood, to marry, and have children.
They crave security and the opportunity to serve and to be
served. Y/lthin every nation people have had problems to
solve, conditions to correct so that these desires could be
better realized. To be sure, the solutions of national prob­
lems: and the corrections of internal conditions have not
always proceeded in peaceful fashion. There have been times
when issues have been considered so grave, and peaceful
solutions seemingly so unattainable, that people have felt
it necessary to resort to violent struggles and even to
bloodshed in the effort to improve their way of life. They
have been animated into action by a variety of motives— self-
and family-preservation, patriotism, humanitarian zeal; the
desire for economic and political betterment, for religious
freedom, for intellectual and spiritual freedom. The list
can be extended.
The story of mankind's struggles to achieve a better
life is the story of the development of the democratic ideal.
The democratic ideal is not to be identified with
any particular set of institutions. Rather is it
to be regarded as a conception of human worth, a
belief in the essential dignity of the ordinary
man, produced by ages of travail and struggle. It
is the modern expression of that rich heritage of
thought and aspiration bequeathed to the race by
a great line of seers and prophets reaching back
through the centuries to Jesus and Plato and
A 8 9 4 6 7 ii
t
doubtless to a myriad of names not recorded
on the pages of history. '•The good of man, ■
said Aristotle almost twenty-three hundred
years ago, 'must be the end of the science of
politics . . . . To secure the good of one
person only is better than nothing; but to
secure the good of a nation or a state is a
nobler and more divine achievement.■ The
spirit of this ancient conception has animated
countless battles for human freedom— the aboli­
tion of serfdom.and chattel slavery, the over­
throw of despotism and tyranny, the war against
cruel and inhuman social practices, the spread '
of popular education and enlightenment, the
rise of the common man to political power,
the emancipation of woman from masculine rule,
and the advance of the organized workers of
the world.1
Our own national heritage is rich with the democratic
tradition. James Truslow Adams** refers to
. . . . that American dream of a better, richer,
and happier life for all our citizens of every
rank which is the greatest contribution we have
as yet made to the thought and welfare of the
world. That dream or hope has been present
from the start. Ever since we became an in­
dependent nation,each generation has seen an
uprising of the ordinary Americans to save that
dream from the forces which appeared to be over­
whelming and dispelling it.
Once again in our history the American people are
rising up to meet the challenge of forces which are attempt­
ing to "overwhelm and dispel" the dream of a fuller life.
Although we had not yet achieved in practice all of the
promises of that dream at the time when we were attacked
by fascist forces from abroad; although such problems as
unemployment, security, health, racial and religious
1 . George S. Counts, Social Foundations o£ Education, pp. 11-12.
2. The Epic o£ America, p. viii.
ill
tolerance, political equality for all negroes, educational
opportunity for all, had not yet been fully solved; although
our democracy had many imperfections— still, the overwhelm­
ing majority of the American people from the lowliesttenant
farmer and laborer to the multi-millionaire Industrialist
and financier are now relegating their own group conflicts
to a secondary position. A nation once openly divided on
major issues— industrialist against labor unions, A. F. of
L. against 0. I. 0.,."isolationists" against "interventionists"—
is now facing the task of uniting efforts in the primary task
of resisting aggression from abroad.
Perhaps, during the national struggle against the
anti-democratic forces abroad, the American people will
hasten their own democratization at home. This, it seems
to me, is the major responsibility of the present generation;
If we are going to maintain and advance the democratic ideal
v;e will improve our own democratic orocesses and ways of
living while we are Joining with other peoples of the world
in defeating fascist military Imperialism. If this is done
in all countries thus Joined in common cause, the war will
not have been fought in vain. If this is done, the war itself
may prove to be the great, though costly, democratizing agent
for the peoples of the world.
A democratic world will not come to pass automatically.
People must fashion it. How it can be fashioned is the prob­
lem: for all to study and to solve. Professor Linden A.
iv
Mander, In his "Foundations of Modern World Society"1— a
hook which was written before the Soviet Union and the
United States entered the war— gives a word of advice which
seems Just as applicable now as It was when it was written.
It is sometimes said that events will force
mankind to make adjustments. To a degree this
is true; but in a complicated world people may
misread the meaning of events;' they may misin­
terpret the direction in which society is moving;
prejudice and ignorance may cause men to see
things out of perspective. Thus one of the
great tasks of the immediate future is to make
certain that men and women can adapt themselves
psychologically and intellectually to the changes
which have occurred, that they appreciate the
nature of the world in which they live, and that
they cease living in a past which cannot return.
To enable them to do so, a vast program of'politi­
cal education will be required. For several years
it should be the major consideration of the states­
men and leaders of democracy to make possible,
over the radio and in public forums, town meet­
ings, the universities, high schools, clubs,
churches, end all other associations, the widest
discussion of the fundamental problems which con­
front the world in its effort to obtain peace,
order, and good government.
The great political and economic changes demanded
by the international conditions today require a
mental change which may well amount to a mental
revolution. Not only must our political concepts
be radically revised but our views on economic
organization must be greatly expanded. It will
be impossible, however, for these two things to
take place unless also there develops a much
graver attitude toward life as a whole. People
do not change their political and economic values
as they would change a suit of clothes. Changes
in values arise from philosophies; and what is
required today is a more comprehensive philosophy
to take the place of the confusion and uncertainty
which beset men's souls.
1. Pp. 891-892.
v
While engaging in the prosecution of the war and in
the building of the peace the people of America will find
it necessary to make many adjustments in their personal
living— joining the araed forces, participating in civilian
defense, changing Jobs, Increasing production, moving to
new locations, assuming additional responsibilities, cur­
tailing consumption of certain commodities. Public education
has a tremendous role to play in helping people to make these
adjustments and understand the significance and meaning of
events. Organized education has the serious responsibility
of preparing children and youth to assume the duties of
democratic citizens so that they can carry on the democrati­
zation process in national and international life.
Democracy, gradually developed by the struggles
of man toward enlightened altruism, can be neither
bestowed nor imposed. Every new generation, every
individual must learn what its foundations and its
Ideals are, must develop a faith in its superiority
over all other forms of social living, and must
with that developed faith acquire a determination
to apply it to all the problems of life.l
The following pages are an attempt to apply the ideals
and principles of democracy, as I see them, to problems now
facing public education. In so doing I decided to treat
only those aspects and problems of education with which I
have had some personal, experience. Consequently, many im­
portant phases of educational practice have been omitted.
In Chapter I— The Development of Democracy— I attempt
to give a very brief historical overview of certain aspects
1. William P. Russell and Thomas H. Briggs, The Meaning of
Democracy, p. v.
vi
of the growth of democracy from early times to the present,
concluding the chapter with a list of characteristics which
I believe the future democratic state may possess and which
might serve now as guides or goals toward which we as a
people could strive.
Chapter II— What Education is Consistent with Democ­
racy? •— traces briefly the trends in the expansion of educa­
tional opportunity from the feudal period to the present,
with major emphasis given to the development of educational
opportunity in our own country. The chapter concludes with
a series of educational principles and objectives which I
consider to be consistent with the characteristics of the
democratic state outlined in the first chapter.
The Curriculum— Past, Present, Future— is treated in
Chapter III. Here I try to appraise some current curricular
practices in the light of their similarity to practices be­
queathed to us by medieval educational theory and practice.
In the last pert of the chapter I discuss certain curricular
trends which I believe harmonize with the ideals and principles
of democracy.
In the next chapter— Administration of the Elementary
School— present administrative policies, practices, and
trends are reviewed from the point of view of the democratic
criteria previously formulated. The second half of the chapter
is devoted to a discussion of democratic and undemocratic
elementary school organization.
vil