Gary Plan News Today

Our schools are a mess, and parents are becoming increasingly fed up, willing to challenge teachers and school boards. The question remains, challenge them to do what? A new book offers some answers.

Years, the gary plans spread from gary, indiana, to the greatest cities in the nation. >> theres always good news. ill-founded and ill-conceived took hold in america. i didnt take hold for very long because people started to shift back, was they realized that learning was being compromised. >> pete: the gary plan, long forgotten, we remember it and you can watch it. before five-part series, "the miseducation of america," is available right now. only on fox nation. this beautiful hall i am in rig...

Ancient greeks trying to do? they were trying to liberate people from having... the idea of a liberal education or a freeing education was to train even a stonemason to be freethinkers. at the took us right back to building a school that taught us how to do a job. ♪ ♪ and so this was the man, william worked, he is the man who was in charge of implementing the gary plan in gary, indiana. >> an admirer of john dewey, used his role as superintendent of gary schools to enact his progressive plan...

A simple -- his answer to that this is what we have got to do, pete, print more money in the build back worse plan. people are listening to this like really? a total failure of a speech. >> pete: and his solution was the build back better plan thats never going to pass. i mean, it was never an answer. when he was asked about the three things he wants to do differently. i am going to get out there more often and talk to the people. talk to the experts like think tanks and editorial boards and goi...

Students within its system up until the 12th grade. students were split into two platoons, one study more traditional, core, academic related subjects, while the other platoon were taking classes in art, physical education, and industrial art courses specifically equipped facilities. while this aspect of the gary plan did not endure, many components of this concept have survived. >> when you went to high school, how many. did you have? >> well, there were four, then there were seven. >> generall...

Their family wanted. >> therein lies the most controversial component of the gary plan. in gary, children continue to their limited, individualized religious instruction, off school grounds, and were taught to embrace a new progressive symbol of the divine ideal. the american flag. >> do you think they would say, well, our motive was benevolent? we are trying to give practical application to students? who dont really need all this highfalutin latin stuff. we are not evil progressives cooking up ...

It was all part of a plan, a plan to change the entire concept of school in america. take a quick look. >> so what is the plan? ive never heard of it. >> right, very few people have. its one of many model schoo thr to experiment with to see how they could build a school system that met their goals. you got to understand, gary, indiana, was a new town at this time. it was founded in 1905. it was kind of industrial town, so they felt like they could build in gary, indiana, a brand-new kind of scho...