Harold O.

Rugg
(18861960)

Quotes from articles

If students, our future citizens, could be taught how to use their
knowledge to solve social problems through the process of
democratic citizenship, our way of life would not only be preserved
but also improved. Stern; Riley 2001

Rugg (1931) argued that education, in schools as well as in other

realms of society, should be the primary means through which
people understand public issues, become empowered, and
therefore, become involved in reform movements and politics.
Boyle-Baise;Goodman 2008

early life

Harold Ordway Rugg, was born in Fitchburg,

Massachussetts on January 17th, 1886 to Edward
(carpenter) and Merion Abbie Rugg.

For two years after graduating high school, Harold worked

in the textile industry before enrolling in college.

Married in September of 1912, to his first wife, and had two

adopted children (2 more marriages thereafter)

Titles

Educator

Historian

Theorist

Social Reconstructionist

Other titles included: Socialist, Anti-capitalist,

Anti-american

Education

Education1908 BS from
Dartmouth (focus civil
engineering)

1909 MS from Dartmouth

(education and sociology)

1915 Ph. D. in Education

from University of Illinois
(administration and
educational statistics)

Professional experience

1909-1910 Missouri Pacific Railroad Civil

Engineer

1910-1911 James Millikin University Professor

1914-1915 U.S. Army Researcher

1915-1920 University of Chicago Professor

1920-1951 Columbia University Professor

Works
1915 The Experimental Determination of Mental Discipline in School
Studies.
1917 Statistical Methods Applied to Education
1926 The Child-Centered School
1929 Man and His Changing Society
1931 Culture and Education in America
1933 The Great Technology
1936 American Life and the School Curriculum
1963 Imagination

Man and His changing

Society
Using his new ideas for curriculum development, Harold
Rugg wrote a 14-volume social studies textbook series,
which was published under the title of "Man and His
Changing Society."

Through his published textbooks, Harold Rugg tried to

provide an accurate account of strengths and
weaknesses of the American society.

Initial reactions were popular but the series was later

dropped from most school districts
Rugg was accused of anti-Americanism, socialist or
communist leanings, as well as anticapitalism

Beliefs
Students should immerse themselves in real-world problems, including working
in their communities to find and present solutions that would improve their lives
and the lives of their fellow citizens
the role of the teacher as a facilitator who guides students to use critical thinking
and to study real world problems
He recognized that the economic gaps between the rich and the poor were
stifling American Democracy closing opportunity and therefore blocking
creativity
that the beauty of democracy:is that citizens could express their freedom, and
exercise their liberty by studying voting and changing the system

Beliefs
in order for students to acquire, understand, and remember information
curriculum must have relevance to their lives
that daily news issues like racism, nationalism, religious intolerance, or
refusal to respect the art of compromise-suggest that a problemcentered approach to the social studies would not only improve
citizenship but also increase retention of factual or historical material

to further the cause of social justice through the moral endeavor of

education, one must seek opportunities to engage students in the study
of social problems for the purpose of seeking solutions