SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION THROUGH EDUCATION

Abstract

The focus of the paper is social reconstructionism, which represented the radical wing of the broader Movement for Progressive Education in the United States in the twenties of the twentieth century. Starting from understanding of social reconstructionism as an educational and social program, which presupposes support to socially democratic political economy, cooperative cul­ture, socially-based approach to education, and view of the role and importance of the school in directing the social and political changes, the aim of this paper refers to the examination and evaluation of socially democratic educational reconstructionism practice. The new learning para­digm, which is implied in the socially reconstructionism theory and practice, is also a focus of interest of this paper. Namely, according to social reconstructionism, the basic aim of education is to promote the program of social reforms, resulting in an emphasis on the social role of the school, i.e. the emphasis on the activist role of the school in the implementation of progressive social changes. The teacher’s role is not to be a disseminator of information, but an activist of social changes who should actively involve pupils in the research process through open discussions and experiential learning. In that context, the reconstructionism emphasis on providing the experi­ences in experimentation and reflective research is consistent with the idea on pupils as active constructors of their own knowledge.

The way in which social reconstructionism supports democracy is illustrated by concrete pos­sibilities for application of these theoretical positions in practice. From a pedagogical point of view, the most important example of embedding socially reconstructionism ideas into the school curriculum certainly represents a unique curricular experiment conducted by Theodore Brameld in 1944, in a high school in Floodwood (Minnesota, USA). Regardless of many difficulties that have arisen in its implementation, the Floodwood project showed how young people could discuss dimensions of the post-war American society in a democratic way, provide different services to the community, and get educated through the practical activities. In this context, the successes and limitations of the teaching practice framed by ideas of early social reconstructionism could be instructive for advocates of educational reforms which promote social changes through demo­cratic negotiation and action.

Despite the fact that social reconstructionism in the first half of the twentieth century has been criticized, which primarily apply to the difficulties related to the application of basic ideas of this perspective in practice, and the lack of explicit educational suggestions, this philosophy of education has encouraged the awareness development on the social dimension of the educational process at schools, facilitating understanding of the impact of the hidden curriculum, and the fact that the knowledge in general implies certain social values. In this context it can be said that in the later periods of the twentieth century, the social reconstructionism continues to evolve within the theory and practice of critical pedagogy with the aim of raising the awareness on the injustices in the world, and the desire and ability to change it. Hence, it seems that the study of the theory and practice of early social reconstructionism is important for understanding how education could be used for the initiation of democratic and emancipation processes. Finally, understanding the tradi­tion of social reconstructionism in relation to its contribution to our understanding of the nature and possibilities of schooling in a democratic society seems to be very useful, since building of socially cohesive civil society requires an education that contributes to the development of abili­ties and characteristics of active citizens whose actions affect changes of reality both in the local and global level.