It is obvious to any observer that in every western country the increase of importance of public schools has been at least coincident with the relaxation of older family ties.

There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his [sic] activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active cooperation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying.

The real process of education should be the process of learning to think through the application of real problems.

It is difficult to connect general principles with such thoroughly concrete things as children.

All genuine education comes about through experience.

Social engaged intellectuals must accept reality as they found it and shape it toward positive social goals, not stand aside in self-righteous isolation.

If the members who compose a society lived on continuously, they might educate the new-born members, but it would be a task directed by personal interest rather than social need. Now it is a work of necessity.