The Neo-Deweyan Shift: Reconstructing Progressive Education for the 21st-Century Gig Economy
In 1896, John Dewey established the University of Chicago Laboratory School, a radical experiment premised on the belief that education should be a “miniature community” rather than a factory for rote memorization. Dewey’s vision of Progressive Education—learning by doing, social integration, and democratic participation—was a response to the rigidities of the Industrial Age. Today, in 2026, we face a similarly profound disruption. The “traditional” career path is being replaced by the gig economy, a landscape defined by project-based work, digital platforms, and the “precariat” workforce.
To thrive in this new era, we must reconstruct progressive education. We no longer need schools that produce compliant employees; we need “Learning Labs” that cultivate entrepreneurial agency and agile craftsmanship.
The “Gig” Skill Set vs. The “Factory” Curriculum
The industrial model of education was designed for stability: students learned a fixed set of facts to prepare for a lifelong job in a …
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