MEP Goals

• In response to World War one, educators and social performers sought to find ways that people and nations could live together harmoniously.  To achieve this end, they hoped education would help people rise above ethnocentrism and nationalism
• To help to provide assistance to the already establishes tax-supported institutions - schools, libraries, museums
• Obtain visual education aids and use them to enlighten teaching and learning with a sensory experience.
• To provide children who resided in rural areas without cultural amenities with local museum-like exhibits

John Dewey, was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform.  He was one of the biggest influences behind the MEP.  The MEP used three of his arguments for progressive education:
1.) A natural learning process engages the student's interests and stimulates curiosity.
2.) The learning experience does not happen in a vacuum.  Curriculum must be relevant to the connections to the real world.
3.) Knowing through doing:  True learning occurs when the student actively uses knowledge in social and intellectual interactions.