Dewey responded to his opponents by criticizing traditional education, in which a stringent curriculum was imposed on children in methods similar to those used with the NCLB act (Pieratt, 2010). In Dewey’s (1922) explanation of traditional education, a pupil became “one who is engaged not in having fruitful experience but in absorbing knowledge directly” (p. 164). Dewey opposed Locke’s blank slate essentialist philosophy and advocated for schools and teachers to engage students in meaningful learning experiences. After all, Dewey (1922) asserted: