Social Reconstructionism

The 1920s brought a resurgence of concern for the individual among many American intellectuals and a decline in their desire to continue the social reform of the Progressive era. This attitude led most progressive educators to emphasize fostering the natural and creative impulses of the child as the primary role of the school. Throughout the decade and into the 1930s, these child-centered progressives dominated the Progressive Education Association, founded in 1919. By the 1930s, however, the Great Depression was again leading American intellectuals to see the individual as shaped by society. They believed that improving American society by solving the dire problems of the Depression would in turn benefit the individual. Among these intellectuals were progressive [Page 840]educational theorists who saw the school as one institution that could promote social reform. Led by George S. Counts, William H. Kilpatrick, Harold Rugg, and others affiliated primarily with Teachers College, Columbia University, they rejected the traditional idea that the role of the school was simply to transmit the culture, arguing instead that schools should lead in the reconstruction of society by promoting a collectivist economy that would cure the ills of capitalism. They even went so far as to advocate the use of indoctrination to achieve that goal. Their educational theory, called social reconstructionism, generated considerable debate among educators and other intellectuals during the 1930s. The debate eventually spilled over into the larger society when some of their ideas appeared in the American Historical Association's proposal to reform the social studies curriculum and in a controversial series of social studies textbooks written by Harold Rugg. For more than a decade, social reconstructionism faced growing criticism, and by the mid-1950s, the conservative mood of the country and calls for a return to traditional schooling led to the demise of this reform effort along with the larger progressive education movement.

Beginning in 1927, a small group of progressives, including Counts, Kilpatrick, and Rugg, gathered with America's leading philosopher, John Dewey, to discuss the role of the school in a changing industrial society. Early in the Depression, their discussions expanded into a raging debate with the child-centered progressive educators. At the annual meeting of the Progressive Education Association in 1932, George Counts asked the membership, “Dare Progressive Education be Progressive?” He criticized progressive education for not having a theory of social welfare beyond individualism and argued for ridding the economy of the evils of capitalism through a planned, collective economy. His speech soon generated considerable discussion for the remainder of the meeting. Counts later expanded his argument in a pamphlet titled Dare the School Build a New Social Order? Answering this question, he opined that truly progressive education required investigating social issues, developing a theory of social welfare, overcoming the fear of imposition and indoctrination in the classroom, and creating a collective economy to save democracy.

By 1933, Counts and his colleagues sought to develop and disseminate social reconstructionism. In addition to Counts's pamphlet, these scholars participated in a symposium titled The Educational Frontier, whose published proceedings were edited by Kilpatrick and created a journal called The Social Frontier. Counts edited the journal, Kilpatrick, Rugg, and others joined the enterprise, and John Dewey agreed to write a monthly article.

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