There's much that is sensible both here and in the book, but it also commits the same sin it accuses progressives of making, building a moral authority less out of its own practical solutions than on battling the simplified evils of the opposition.

There is certainly an element of progressivism that naively thinks we'll reach some utopia if only we sever ourselves from tradition and old methods, but that is hardly either the whole of progressive educational ideals, much less the foundation upon which they are built. Any more than conservative ideals are foundationally prejudicial or constructed from opposition to anything new.

As a liberal teacher (and one hates to break this to you, but most of us are), this would be much easier to appreciate if if didn't demonize central conceits of progressive education (children are inherently good, people should be respected, education can be personal as well as societal, etc.) into straw man arguments.