Copy of Harold Rugg

• Harold Rugg was born January 17, 1886
• During his formative years he saw first hand the effects of wealth, power, and poverty.
• He was strongly influenced by his surroundings so much so that he suffered from feelings of inferiority which laid the groundwork for his social philosophy and ideas on social reform.

1886-1890’s

Education

1904-1909

A degree of engineering in 1909

Bachelor of Science in 1908.

Ph.D. in 1915

Career

1911

taught engineering at the University of Illinois

1915

taught educational statistics at the University of Chicago

1910-1918

1909-1910 civil engineer at the Missouri Pacific Railroad

1916-1918

administered intelligence and aptitude test.

1919-1920

worked for the Army's Committee on Classification of Personnel

Rugg created the first series of an educational book.

Social Studies Textbooks

• 1929 – Man and His Changing Society: A series of Social Science booklets that comprised the social studies materials for junior high school (grades six to eight).
• 1939 – (with Louise Krueger)An elementary education (grades one through eight) social studies textbook series
• Subject of censorship

Nelson (1977, 64) called Rugg “the first great curriculum developer.”

Rugg created the first unified social studies curriculum. His proposals presage calls for subject matter standards today.

Curriculum

Reformation

• To change education so that students could (and would) become “intelligent and vigorous citizens with the ability and inclination to decide issues from adequate information” (Rugg 1923, 3)
• called for the different branches of the social studies—history, geography, economics, and political science—to be taught as part of an integrated, coherent program
• Believed that the best way to engage students in social studies was to approach the material from a social-justice perspective

The Child-Centered School

Child-centered Approach

• historical and contemporary basis for "child-centered" education
• impact on Progressive educators
• predesigned outlines of recommended topics, discussions, and research projects to guide, rather than control, teachers.
• role of the teacher is a facilitator.
• wanted students to ask questions rather than learn texts

“books of texts cannot provide the data for problem-solving because they supply the pupil with the very generalizations which we wish to compel him to deduce from facts” (Rugg 1926c, 612).

Philosophy on Social Study

Social Reconstructionism

• Social reconstructionism is a philosophy of education which holds that the role of the schools is to change, and not merely reflect American society.

• The good society required personal integrity on a large scale and, further, that integrity could be nurtured through creative self-expression.

Weakness

Weakness

• The conclusions in the textbooks are presented as truth, without the historical data.

• For example, the view of the Civil War as an economic conflict is the only interpretation presented.

• How does one build a specified new social order through education with forcing children to accept a single view?