The 20th century had brought with it many astounding innovations and social revolutions,
among these was the rise of democracy as the premiere form of government throughout the world.
With this now being the case it was becoming very clear that if the democratic political system was
to survive education must descend from its ivory tower and touch the mind of the common man.
Happy to lead the charge was John Dewey. Born on October 20th, 1859 Dewey showed
considerable merit from an early age, so much so that by 15 he had already began his college
education at the University of Vermont. This would prove to be but only the beginning of what would
be a magnificent career spanning some 70 years. He wrote extensively from start to finish and
by the time of his death in 1952 he had finished and published over 1000 works. But of his many
subjects, education is what has primarily carried his name into the contemporary world of academia.
Around the time of his graduation from Johns Hopkins, where he received a doctorate in
philosophy, there was an age old battle being fought on American soil. This was no war of arms,
but one of values. The participants included educational “Romantics”, which
Dewey referred to as the “new” and educational “Traditionalists”, who he called the “old”.
The eternal battle between “new” and “old”, “chaos” and “control”, rages on.
From the “new” or “Romantic” side of the aisle we have an educational ideal which places importance
on who the child is in respect to their individual disposition, claiming that only this is required
as their educational starting point. In contrast the “old” or “traditional” way of educating
took each child as an empty receptacle ready to be filled with information deemed appropriate
by their educator, this regardless of disposition. It was Dewey’s hope that his system could put this
endless debate to rest and to give to America an educational system amenable with the democratic
political system which it held and championed. Throughout his life he dedicated
many hours writing articles, essays, and books all in the service of creating the ideal philosophy of
education, the most important of these works, “Democracy and Education” came to us in 1916.
It should be noted that of the two aforementioned systems Dewey leaned more toward the “old”
Traditional ways if only because of their emphasis on discipline and memorization.
This is not to say that he was not, in some degree, in agreement with the Romantics,
the child’s natural disposition, he believed, should be the starting point of education, but it
cannot be the only starting point. What he thought to be of equal importance and something we must
also take into account is who the child is; where are they from, what their cultural background is,
and what their community places value upon. All of these factors must be integrated into our system,
if not we risk alienating a child simply because what we are teaching them is not in accordance
with their developing needs. And if we are not successful in creating an environment
which reproduces the child’s individual social circumstances then interest, as well as success
in education, is likely to dramatically decrease. With this in mind it should go without saying that
a national standardization will not do, the vast differences between individual children
will inevitably prevent its success. It should not be the mindset that each child
should strive to attend a prestigious university of which only select few will actually attain.
The aim is to educate with the primary objective being the preparation of each child to function,
as highly as is possible, in the democratic society which they will soon inherit.
When executed correctly we gain the greatest likelihood of developing them to their full
potential and giving to each student the ability to make use of their individual capacities.
“The question of education”, said Dewey, “is the question of taking hold of children’s activities,
of giving them direction.” We are not only preparing the child to pass from
adolescence to adulthood, but preparing him or her for a “continuous growth of the mind
and a continuous illumination of life.” In order that we as a society should
achieve this we must make significant changes to those who educate our children.
They must, in addition to knowing their specific subject, also be trained to identify and separate
differing cultural systems. This, of course, would be rather difficult on our educators
and would require generous investment as well as the restraint to withhold personal prejudices
so as to avoid any indoctrination to that educator’s, or to that institution’s, ideology.
Each must be given those lessons which addressed problems pertaining to their actual life
or what was most likely to be the life which they would grow into. This desire to connect
education with society as a whole is rooted in his fervent wish for a thriving democracy.
It was his thought that whether a democracy succeeds or whether it fails depends primarily on
the education which it provides to its citizens. This in Dewey’s mind is because what a democracy
requires most of all is the ability of its people to work through problems and develop creative
solutions which allow for productive communication and co-existence between differing opinions.
Without the lessons which were to develop these characteristics it would be difficult for a child
to develop the skills and habits necessary to thrive and contribute fully to a democratic
society. “Democracy,” he said, “is the faith that the process of experience is more important than
any special result attained, so that special results achieved are of ultimate value only as
they are used to enrich and order the ongoing process. Since the process of experience is
capable of being educative, faith in democracy is all one with faith in experience and education.”
It is clear from the texts that Dewey understood the faults of Democracy,
but he also understood the dangers of such systems as Aristocracy and Monarchy.
If we could see philosophy as the “general theory of education”
then perhaps we could bring it back from the dark corners of epistemology to something which
would aid us in solving the ills which affect our everyday lives. “The task of future philosophy”,
he said, “is to clarify men’s ideas as to the social and moral strifes of their own day.”
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will be more to come, and as always, thank you for talking philosophy with me, until next time.