RE: “Dewey’s influence in the first half of the 20th century was enormous”....It continues THE SAME today.
All the people he trained went on to train the next generation that trained the one now. It’s like a religion, a cult. You can’t advance in this racket unless you drink Dewey’s Koolaid, which is just Socialism-on-the-Sly.
Bon, you ought to do a piece about your experiences with “professional development.” A big part of the racket. So-called PD makes a lot of money for the bosses and keeps the lower people in line.
“Quackery in the Public Schools,” 1951, by Albert Lynd, taught me this: Education is the only field where the practitioners never graduate but must go back every year for more schooling. In other words, Education professors created a system which guarantees them endless employment. This is a pretty irony: ultimate socialists turn out to be ultimate capitalists.
Bruce:
I’m a few years out from retirement — two kids in college, etc.
Yes, it NEVER ends — every year there is a “new, improved” program to replace the last failed program. I am told to clear out all notebooks, textbooks, workbooks from the previous year because a new program is being installed. What a massive waste of $$!! AND, so many of these programs are re-hashes of other programs, give new names and re-presented as we teachers whisper to each other (this is just like x program from before!!).
It IS a self-perpetuating racket! Oh, the stories I could tell..out of school of course. But, it will have to wait until I’m out and my pension is secured. The walls have ears at school, inside and out, and I am compelled to toe the company line — I need my job (I have dependents).
But, once the coast is clear...watch out!!
Oh, what the public doesn’t know!!