1. John Dewey
Education and Democracy

2. Objectives:
1. What is the role of formal education?
2. For Dewey, how are democracy, society, and education linked?
3. How does Dewey view the nature of the child and the nature of
learning?
4. What is the role or function of the teacher, according to Dewey?

3. John Dewey
 Education is a social
process; education is
growth; education is not a
preparation for life but is
life itself.

4. Dewey’s on Formal Education
Formal Education
– Dewey believed that successful democracy depends upon the
educational development of its people
– How else can people rule themselves unless they have the
intelligence to produce good laws and make sound judgments?
His answer to this is: Education, of course, is not merely "formal
education," as Dewey points out at the book's beginning. Education is
growth and development throughout life, both before and after any
formal component.
– Dewey says that democracy should be an educating social system
and that life in a democratic society should contribute to the growth and
development of its citizens. The very act of self government should both
require education and lead to further education; it is a reciprocal
arrangement.
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5. For Dewey, how are democracy, society, and education
linked?
•Democracy is not merely a system of government; it is a pervasive
system of social organization. That system promotes an open society in
which people can merge their activities with others and experience a
stimulating mixture of cultural perspectives and human interests. It is the
ultimate social experiment in that sense that individuals have the
opportunity of challenging values and aims, working collectively toward
uncertain results, and discussing new approaches when the results are in.
Formal education is only a part of this lifelong process and it's roles are,
first, to set us on constructive paths and, second, to show us the process
that should become habit. Educational practice, then, is really equivalent
to philosophical methodology in Dewey's mind. It is in educational
institutions that we should learn as habit the "love of wisdom" that
philosophy is -- not love for any particular subject area or body of content
but rather love for the process, for engagement with others in serious
discussion.

6. JOHN DEWEY
 How does he view the nature of the child and the
nature of learning?
 Nature of the child: curious, social, constructive,
expressive

7. “Experiential learning takes place
“Experiential learning takes place
when a person involved in an activity
when a person involved in an activity
looks back and evaluates it,
looks back and evaluates it,
determines what was useful or important to remember,
determines what was useful or important to remember,
and uses this information to perform another activity.”
and uses this information to perform another activity.”
John Dewey
John Dewey

8. “The Need for a Philosophy of Education”
-Philosophy needs to define what education is, moreover, any
“ideal that is a genuine help in carrying on activity must rest upon
a prior knowledge of concrete actual occurrences”
- Education is “a process of development”, but it is a “directed
growth,” which is meant to be directed by educators. His book is
important because it represents the way Dewey thought
philosophy should be done. When we have separated philosophy
from systems of authority and from rationalized systems of
metaphysics and from all other versions of thought-by-first-
principles, and when we have committed philosophy to the active
discussion of collective activity, we need to make discussion
thoroughly articulate.

9. “The Need for a Philosophy of Education”
-the student possesses, inherently, the “raw material and the
starting-point of growth”, however, “the environing conditions to be
furnished by the educator are the indispensable means of their
development”
-thus educators must modify environment to provide direction of
student growth
-each student possesses innate possibilities and properties for
growth and, as such, an ideal education is characterized by
continual growth

10. “The Need for a Philosophy of Education”
-“the educational end and the ultimate test of the value of what is
learned (in the method described above) is its use and application
in carrying on and improving the common life of all”
-thus, by experiencing growth in education in a democratic
environment, students will learn how to reform society
-we need to expand language and create distinctions, arrange
subdivisions and issues, formulate points of view, and suggest
directions. Taking two large subjects like democracy and
education, this commits us to quite a long and complex text.

11. “The Need for a Philosophy of Education”
 Dewey wants to make individuals more capable of self-support,
but he also stresses connections and commitments to others.
 Schools should not just use activities, but select activities that
connect to democratic life, the classroom as a community.
 Education is a process of development, an educated person
has the power to go on and get more education, to grow. Grow
like a seed? [Not exactly.] Not as deterministically, as say a
tree. Humans have great potential to grow in many directions.
The environment for growth matters. Traditional schools fail to
recognize the diversity of capacities, the need to initiate growth
must come from the needs and powers of the pupil (not a blank
slate, not teacher-centered). (Need for a Philosophy of
Education, Dewey, 1934)

12. “The Need for a Philosophy of Education”
Toward “more effective techniques, greater self-reliance, a more thoughtful and
inquiring disposition more capable of persistent effort in meeting obstacles.”
EXPERIENCE A PROBLEM, TRY TO SOLVE IT.
Dewey wants to connect interest (NATURE OF THE CHILD: CURIOUS,
EXPRESSIVE, SOCIAL, AND CONSTRUCTIVE) and effort (motivate students
to SOLVE PROBLEMS, ANSWER QUESTIONS)? If successful, it leads to the
student-curriculum integration that Dewey desires. KNOWLEDGE THAT IS
USEFUL, that supports further growth and expansion of interests.
Does Dewey provide a clear vision of the ideal democratic society?
“For education to be most successful, it is necessary that people participate in
democratic forms of life.”
“A society of free individuals in which all, doing each his own work, contribute to
the liberation and enrichment of the lives of others is the only environment for
the normal growth to full stature.” (“Need for a Philosophy of Education” Dewey,
1934)

13. “The Need for a Philosophy of Education”
 What does he reject about traditional education?
 Dewey believes that faculty psychology, behaviorism, and teacher-centered
approaches to curriculum do not capture the correct psychology of learning.
 He rejects the idea that rote learning and memorization are “learning”.
 “The educational center of gravity has been too long in the teacher, the
textbook, anywhere and everywhere except in the immediate instincts and
activities of the child himself.”
 Schools should not be “static in subject matter, authoritarian in methods,
and mainly passive.”
 Dewey fears that society and traditional schooling are promoting: Selfish,
egoistic, competitive views where we learn to “outwit others and get on” for
ourselves…

14. What is the role or function of the teacher, according to Dewey?
It is the democrat who conceives of education as a process
leading to individual growth and development rather than to
brainwashing or purely training for some limited tasks. It is the
educator who conceives of democracy as a social system that not
only encourages individual growth but, in fact, offers the individual
a context of free and stimulating intercourse with others, in which
that growth is possible. Democracy is not merely a system of
government; it is a pervasive system of social organization. That
system promotes an open society in which people can merge their
activities with others and experience a stimulating mixture of
cultural perspectives and human interests.