Because of its inherent historical defects, progressive education has been criticized by other schools of educational thought and by schools of thought such as eternalism and essentialism during its development. Especially in the 1950s, progressive education became the target of public criticism and was severely criticized by American educational circles and public opinion circles. Coupled with the increasingly serious internal differences, the decline or even disappearance of progressive education is inevitable.
Hutchins, a representative figure of eternalism, thinks that the past is excellent, which defends the unchangeable nature of the universe, humanity, knowledge and truth, goodness and beauty, and everything worth yearning for is eternal. Eternists emphasize that reason is the foundation of human nature. The stability of social order depends on a rational culture based on the eternal principle of truth, goodness and beauty. Ignore these rational cultures, and society will be unstable because of the collapse of spiritual pillars. They even attributed the social problems brought about by the worldwide economic crisis in the 1930s to moral problems and cultural problems. On the basis of advocating "eternal value", eternalism established the curriculum standard of "retro". They also believe that a good education lies in making people gradually know the truth and become rich in humanity.
Eternism directly criticizes progressivism, and attacking progressivism is "anarchic individualism", "liberation of corruption" and "the most vicious distortion of democracy". At the same time, eternalism held a hostile and attacking attitude towards the Soviet Union at that time. Comparing the Soviet Union with German Nazis and Italian fascists, we think that Dewey's philosophy will destroy American democratic tradition, and Dewey's democratic essence is totalitarianism in the cloak of democracy, which is more harmful than Hitler's.
Rykov, a representative figure of essentialism, believes that the world itself has absolute value, people can explore truth through rational activities, and truth is manifested as cultural heritage. The eternal common element in cultural heritage is "the basic core of knowledge". Therefore, essentialism emphasizes that the content of school education is to inherit the traditional "cultural heritage". Essentialism curriculum makes the thought of subject curriculum move from experience to theory, and establishes the theoretical form of subject curriculum. It came into being on the basis of inheriting the thought of "formal training" and criticizing and progressing experience curriculum's thought, combined with the needs of American social reality and educational reality. Its development is the theoretical sublimation of academic curriculum thought. Its wide acceptance is based on profound internal curriculum rules.