DEMOCRACY, SOCIAL-STUDIES, AND DIVERSITY IN THE ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL CLASSROOM - THE PROGRESSIVE IDEAS OF MIEL,ALICE

Alice Miel, a nationally prominent curriculum development scholar-prac titioner at Teachers College from 1942-1971, has been overlooked in re search on the evolution of social studies education. This study examin es her contributions to the practice and theory of children's democrat ic social learning and views her work as historical antecedent to curr ent research on diversity in the social studies and the elementary sch ool classroom. Miel advocated the development of democratic behavior a s the ultimate goal of schooling. She applied theories of social learn ing and democratic principles and processes to the school curriculum. Her research on the importance of social and cultural learning, especi ally for postwar suburban children, revealed her conviction that human diversify was a proper subject for the school curricuum in a democrat ic society. She believed that children must be educated to deal fairly and realistically with questions of social justice, civil rights, nat ional unity, and international peace. She argued that, at the time, th ere was no more urgent business in American schools.