"Progressive" education = Prussian schooling = mass indoctrination
But originally the adjective "progressive" was applied to the noun "Christian"
Check out this "super-protestant" program: https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,801396,00.html
In my view the divide is Aristotelians vs Platonists (who were pagans) and this applies also to Christians (Aquinas vs Augustine) and atheists (Rand vs Kant)
Aristotle/Aquinas/Rand:
The normal world is real & the normal man can understand it; man should aim for some form of well-being or self-cultivation in accordance with individual reason.
Plato/Augustine/Kant:
The normal world is unreal or unknowable or secondary to some other unknowable realm. Man should aim for gratification of his whims, or self-sacrifice for others, or duty to the group or State.
I have my own criticisms of Rand but I agree with her basically realist/rationalist orientation and the basics of this historical outline