EDUCATIONAL ACTIVIST

Lightning Rod.

In 1932, with a single address to the Progressive Education Association (PEA), George Counts became the most discussed educator in the United States. His speech—"Dare Progressive Education Be Progressive?"—articulated the anxieties and ambitions of professional educators during the Depression. Calling American teachers to arms, he demanded that they put their talents to work not only as educators but as economic reformers and political activists. Insisting that only education could advance the cause of social reform without revolution, Counts challenged educators to take an increased role in leadership and government and to impart to their students a sense of progressive politics. Denounced by conservatives, he was the foremost advocate of the new educational philosophy of social reconstructionism, a lightning rod for the tensions of the times, the champion of the teacher as social...