Progressive Education: A Marxist Interpretation

by Gilbert G. González

199 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I selected this book because I was hoping to have a different approach to the study of the history of education, and while I did not think this book would per se affect my political stance, I did hope it would also give me new insight into the progressive era of education. Sadly, it did not do so. It framed all the arguments using a more political conversation and, yes, it did lament that industry and business impacted the idea of what a progressive education was to be, but otherwise it added little to the study of the idea of progressive education, instead just placing it within the language of the Marxist conversations and political ideals.

This book is not without some merit, but it falls short of shaping the conversation about the rise and pitfalls of progressive education by not adding too much new to the conversation. The picture remains the same, but the frame which holds it has changed so to speak. If one wants to have a conversation about how different political ideologies can interpret education, this is a book with which one could readily begin, but for someone wanting to study the history of education in a completely new way or to see the intersection of ideas from different political spectra, this book may leave one wanting.