John Dewey
Historians write of a progressive movement in America toward the end of the nineteenth and the beginning
of the twentieth centuries. Actually, this consisted of a number of movements, some of them quite contradictory,
but all focusing on the problems created by a rapidly expanding urban and industrial world. One of the
most notable of the progressives was the philosopher John Dewey (1859–1952), who was instrumental in helping
to establish a philosophical foundation for reform. Dewey, like the other progressives, considered environment
more important than heredity in forming character. He believed that ordinary human beings had the ability
to govern themselves, and through intelligence and human will, to develop the capacity to become productive
members of society.
Education was an area to which the progressives quite naturally paid particular attention. They stressed
better schools as a way to produce better citizens. The public school systems of that time were often
rigid and unlikely to develop individuals capable of positively transforming society. Dewey became the
leader of the progressive education movement. He was concerned that America’s youth were not being prepared
for the tasks they must face in the modern world, and in 1899 he published The School and Society,
in which he discussed his theories on education. According to Dewey, education was "the fundamental
method of social progress and reform." For government to attempt to improve conditions merely by
passing laws was "futile." Moreover, in an industrial society, the family no longer performed
many of the functions it had been responsible for in an agrarian society. Dewey believed that the school
could fill this gap and become an instrument for social reform. Thus, the role of education in the new
emerging urban/industrial world was not only to transmit knowledge but also to build character and teach
good citizenship.
In the following excerpt from Dewey’s essay "The Democratic Conception in Education," taken
from his book Democracy and Education, he discusses the democratic ideals for education in American
liberalism. These, he says, must be fulfilled in an existing social context to ensure that "each
individual is doing that for which he has aptitude by nature in such a way as to be useful to others,"
transcending limitations of class or income. Dewey stresses the need for America’s schools to produce
more flexible, better-educated, more understanding adults who could then improve society. His pragmatic
ideas for educational reform have received much attention over the past several decades. What in them
do you think has such appeal to modern educators and politicians? How do his ideas compare with those
advocated by the Clinton administration? What is the purpose of democratic government and how does it
relate to Dewey’s theories on education? Is Dewey optimistic about human nature? What relationship does
he advocate between the individual and a democratic government? What responsibilities does the government
have for the education of the individual? |
