Impact Of John Dewey On Western Education

The Purpose of Education: John Dewey’s Perspective

For John Dewey, a philosopher that contributed a large portion of his works to education, the purpose of education was essentially social reform whereby a democratic education would ensure that children became citizens who were culturally aware, open-minded people who positively contributed to society. Dewey believed that the traditional system of boring, rote learning was not productive or conducive to the children’s learning and that the sharing of information and knowledge through experiential learning, in a child-focused manner, was a more effective method of gaining knowledge.

“According to Dewey, the purpose of education is not the communication of knowledge but the sharing of social experience so that children become integrated into the democratic community”. (Piedra, 2018)

Dewey felt that the education system at the time did not help the children realize their full potential. Dewey (1897; as cited in Talebi, 2005) states that “…to prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities”. Dewey regards school as a place where children need to learn about life as a whole and not just a place where they are taught content subjects. (Talebi, 2005) Notably, Dewey did not throw out any previous or current theories on learning but rather pointed out that they were incomplete and did not cater to the child from a holistic perspective, he believed:

the right kind of education, a democratic education, will be guided by nature, students’ interests, and an understanding of natural development; it will allow individuals to flourish, utilizing their skills and interests to secure social efficiency; and it will lead to an enlightened citizen, a genuinely cultured one. (Mintz, 2018.)

Dewey’s ideas of education were deeply rooted in his moral belief system and democracy. I see a correlation between Dewey’s desire for democratic education and Mann’s desire to change society through education. “Mann claimed that education was a better means than law to change society” (Jeynes, 2012).

The Principles of Dewey’s Philosophy and Their Influence on Education

At the heart of Dewey’s philosophies’ we see some guiding principles on how the education system is a process, “Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself.” (Dewey)

1. The Principle of Democracy

“With the principles of democracy as a basis, Dewey developed a new concept of education emphasizing experience and growth” (Sullivan, 1966). Democracy itself emphasized a person’s right to freedom of choice. Dewey believed that the children were the most vulnerable people in the quest for democracy, with the traditional system teaching children to sit quietly and listen to instructions. “Dewey was specifically concerned about the rights of the child as an individual, his right to exercise his decisions, choices in learning and education, and his participation in a democratic learning process.” (Sikaya, 2015)

He theorized that the growth of the children in developing critical thinking skills allowed them to grow into adults that could make decisions based on the information that they provided. When thinking about democratic education, “His preoccupation with this issue is a constant theme in his works, which are infused with ideas about the role that education and, most specifically, our school system have in the transformation of society.” (Pérez-Ibáñez, 2018)

This argument is still relevant today and not enough has been done to include the freedom of thought in the global education system. In many countries, the idea of creating free thinkers would not suit political agendas. Dewey’s writings on democracy and education may even be a cause for concern and a reason for politicians to hold such control over the education system in countries where authoritarian rule is still in place. Despite the guise of democracy and the lip service to the voting system, countries, like Zimbabwe, still have control of their citizens. The introduction of such a philosophy to their education system would not be tolerated. Berding (1997; as cited by Sikanda, 2015) comments about Dewey, saying:

His writings on democracy and education express his philosophy of education as a way of social reform. He saw education as a means of serving the democratic process through making corrections in the economic evils and by obtaining political ends that would lead to the progression of society. Hence, education for Dewey is the culmination of his political ideas. The shaping of a society in which the common goods, among which are the knowledge and social intelligence, are distributed fairly among all who participate in that society.

2. The Principle of Experience

John Dewey valued experience in an educational setting. He believed that by performing an act and then experiencing its consequence that children would learn from such an experience. Dewey did elaborate on this and say that the context in which the experience happened is important as is the child’s direct involvement with the consequence.

Experience as mentioned in Dewey’s definition of education is a social process that involves the interaction of an individual with his environment. An experience includes initial confusion, tentative hypothesis, investigation, elaboration of hypothesis, and action to bring about results. (Sullivan, 1966)

Dewey believed that if the child was to enjoy the experience or have a positive reaction to that experience, then it would encourage the child to want to know more. Along the lines of the principle of experience is the theory of interaction and continuity. “Seemingly the most significant principle Dewey employed was what became known later as interaction or transaction” (Morgan, J., & Shermis, S. 1970)

An experience can be either positive or negative, depending on the outcome of said experience. “One’s present experiences are a direct result of how their previous experiences interact with and influence their present situation” (Dewey). In Dewey’s philosophy of education, the ‘interaction’ of a student will depend on the current situation, and how the child feels about the experience. ‘Continuity’ will depend on whether or not the experience was positive as to whether or not the child will choose to partake in the experience again.

The principles of interaction and continuity (intersection between experience and education) form a major part of John Dewey’s philosophical discourse. According to Dewey, these principles determine the quality of educative experience for meaningful life‐long learning. (Bassy, 2010)

The principle of experience as a tool in education could provide a child with the intrinsic desire to learn more. Positive experiences would encourage the child’s’ innate desire for knowledge. “These experiences are given value and direction by the teachers; therefore, there should be order and direction of a child’s experiences, which will give him a composed and integrated personality” (Sikander, 2015) It would be essential that a teacher can harness the individual child’s willingness to explore a topic further. Understandably, a teacher cannot possibly know or understand the experience that a child has had outside of their care and therefore communication regarding a subject matter between the child and the teacher is important.

Dewey believed that progressive educators could craft learning experiences that invited equally absorbing forms of exploration and promised equally exciting experiences of mastery by harnessing the natural drives of children in the service of socializing them to valued cultural activities and norms. (Meyer, 2015)

Experience-based learning has been implemented in many schools around the world. We can see this through the field trips organized by schools, school gardens, museums (Winstanley, 2018), and science studios. Dewey has influenced teachers to believe in the benefits of experience-based learning, but policies still demand a high turnout of graded papers, and therefore not enough time is given to this valuable method of teaching.

3. The Principle of Curriculum

As Dewey’s principle of teaching was based on experience and learning by doing, it figures that the curriculum would be based around the child, their experiences, and their willingness to partake in a particular activity. As Sikander (2015) references Berding (1992) who wrote:

Curriculum, Dewey demanded was not imposed upon the students, rather it could allow individual differences among the students and value their experiences. Dewey’s curriculum theory is based on anthropological, psychological, and social-philosophical (political) perspectives that hold a child to be like an organism and this organism is searching for stimuli to grow. (Berding, 1992).

Dewey believed in a child-centered curriculum where the teachers taught to the individual child’s needs. These demanded the teachers know each child and their needs on an intimate level. In education today we can see this being observed in Individualised Education Plans and schools like Montessori schools, however, it requires a need for a low teacher to student ratio, which is not often found in public schools.

The Alignment of John Dewey’s Principles with IB Education

According to their website The International, Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. John Dewey was one of their key influential educationalists and this can be seen in their aim to create a more peaceful world, this notion aligns with John Dewey’s principle of democracy. Their key insight from the work of John Dewey was the importance of tapping into the children’s natural curiosity. We can tap into their natural curiosity through understanding their experiences and therefore the IB education aligns with the principle of experience-based learning. Finally, we look at their curriculum. It is evident through their website that children are examined and therefore this would require some form of standardized testing and learning. I do not feel that they would align with John Dewey’s principle of Curriculum although they do believe in child-centered learning.

It must be noted that whilst theoretically sound and psychologically relevant, John Dewey’s philosophy of education would require a substantial budget, awareness, and buy-in from teachers and policy changes from a political perspective. These challenges along with the fact that his philosophies and theories do not come equipped with a road map for how to deliver content means that there is still work to be done towards implementing some of Dewey’s principles.

References

  1. Bassey,M. (2010) Educating for the real world: an illustration of John Dewey’s principles of continuity and interaction, Educational Studies, 36(1), 13-20, DOI: 10.1080/03055690903148480
  2. International Baccalaureate, (2020, September 8) Benefits of the IB https://www.ibo.org/benefits/
  3. Jeynes, W. (2012). The widespread growth of the common school and higher education.
  4. In American Educational History. (145-156) Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/13715_Chapter6.pdf
  5. Mayer, S. (2015). Representing Dewey’s Constructs of Continuity and Interaction within Classrooms. Education and Culture, 31(2), 39-53. doi:10.5703/educationculture.31.2.39
  6. Mintz, A. I. (n.d.). What is the purpose of education? Dewey’s challenge to his contemporaries. [pdf] Retrieved March 01, 2018. from https://www.academia.edu/23693775/What_is_the_Purpose_of_Education_Deweys_challenge_to_his_contemporaries
  7. Morgan, J., & Shermis, S. (1970). Origin, theory and practice: Dewey’s early philosophy. Midcontinent American Studies Journal, 11(1), 65-79. Retrieved September 8, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40640933
  8. Pérez-Ibáñez, I. (2018). Dewey’s Thought on Education and Social Change. Journal of Thought, 52(3-4), 19-31. doi:10.2307/90026735
  9. Piedra, A. (2018, February, 1) The Tragedy of American Education: The Role of John Dewey. The Institute of World Politics. IWP. https://www.iwp.edu/articles/2018/02/01/the-tragedy-of-american-education-the-role-of-john
  10. Sikandar,A. (2015). John Dewey and His Philosophy of Education. Journal of Education and Educational Development. 2 (2). 191-201 https://doi.org/10.22555/joeed.v2i2.446
  11. Sullivan, P. (1966). John Dewey’s Philosophy of Education. The High School J ournal, 49(8), 391-397. Retrieved September 8, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40366240
  12. Talebi, Kandan. (2015, September) John Dewey- Philosopher and educational reformer. European Journal of Educational Studies, 1(1) , 4. [pdf] Retrieved February 28, 2018 from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED564712.pdf
  13. Winstanley. C (2018) Learning experiences in museums: harnessing Dewey’s ideas on continuity and interaction, Education 3-13, 46:4, 424 432, DOI: 10.1080/03004279.2018.1445476

Theory Of John Dewey And Paulo Freire: Critical Analysis

As a technical teacher in the Department of Correctional Services, I have experience in teaching adult offenders. I taught Mathematics and Motor Trade Theory N1 to offenders registered for a TVET Programme called Engineering Studies N1 Students. I never had an opportunity to teach at a school outside correctional services except when I was doing my teaching practice. During my experiential learning, I taught grade 10 to 11 learners. Before writing this assignment, I read through all the theorists provided and made a summary of each. Through this exercise, I realized how closely related is the Theory of John Dewey and Paulo Freire. I had to distinguish between the theory of Paulo Freire and John Dewey. Between the two although their theories are almost in sync, Paulo Freire provided the best fit for the work I did.

The selection of Paulo Freire’s Theory as the best fit is corroborated by how is did my teaching and the influence I had on my learners to achieve intended outcomes. In line with the diary I kept for the three days, my plan touched on the theory and the practical and workplace learning. Planning was done having time management in the execution of the task in mind. I ensured that all the tools and equipment to be utilized are available and enough for every learner to be engaged/ practice.

The goals I had in mind when I taught had been to ensure that learners (offenders) achieve the set objective and critical outcomes highlighted in my lesson plan. I have always wanted to ensure they excel in the workplace when they are doing their practicals as Motor Trade subject has the theory and practical. I ensured that the learners understood and apply concepts learned through the theory in the workplace/workshop. The other goal I wanted to achieve was to make a difference in their lives to curb re-offending and achieve departmental rehabilitation goals.

Adult learners have experience and skills that needed to be sharpened. All that I had to do was not to act as a bank that deposits information to them and them absorbing it as if their vessels. In the process of teaching adults, the fact that they come with experience preoccupied my planning before presenting a lesson. In line with Freire and Dewey, learning takes place through engagement and experimenting/execution. They both agree that the teacher is not the only one who knows the content but learners must be actively involved in such a way that more information can be drawn out of them and the teacher to reinforce what they already know.

Like what Freire discouraged in the banking model wherein the teacher is seen as a person who dumps information to the learners and the learners are seen as containers/ vessels that will just accept the information without questioning it, my lessons have always had a practical component that also encouraged the learners to explore more than they know

Freire’s insistence that only the oppressed can liberate themselves and his stress on ‘dialogue’ and ‘praxis’ as the tools of liberation is something that any ‘teacher-student’ with an interest in social justice and transformation must take note of. Based on this, I have ensured that the learners engage in dialogue and question using even the language they understand best. Teaching adults from different backgrounds made me conduct more research on the topic to be introduced to them. Freire encouraged active participation by engaging one another in the form of a dialogue to achieve meaningful learning.

For instance, they will know how work tools are what are they used for but in some instances, they would not know the exact name of certain tools in English. Sometimes others were unable to write or even spell in English. In cases like this, my job will reinforce where they are lacking and assisting them in where need a need. With that, my method was in sync with what Freire did.

He ensured that he used commonly used words in his teaching to make learning practical and synchronized with their daily lives, therefore becoming conscious and real. In short, a student was to learn content easier because commonly used words were utilized in their learning process. My learners in their submission on the task given had spelling mistakes but the concept was understood well. Because the lesson was not about assessing the spelling, they were not penalized; instead, they were shown the correct spelling of the words they wrote wrongly.

I have realized that adult learners need guidance and support to ensure that they reinforce the skills they currently have as they have knowledge and experience acquired before their incarceration. Some of the learners were exposed to the mechanical world. They knew exactly what to especially when they were allowed to explain concepts and how they function in the vehicle. I remember when they were requested to dismantle a Macpherson Strut of a vehicle. The learners were given a task conduct research on how to replace a dysfunctional/worn out shock absorber to ensure that they dismantle a Macpherson strut from the vehicle, clamp it on the vice grip. They were to work in groups (4 per group) to remove the coil spring from the strut at a specific time. The aim was to replace the shock absorber and the only way to do it is to remove the whole Macpherson Strut from the vehicle.

The learners dismantled it quickly and explained the steps so well. They further touched on the safety aspect that was not part of the task. This was done because they knew that safety measures in the workshop must be the priority before the execution of any task. The most interesting part was also to see them ensuring that unsafe acts are prohibited, housekeeping is done and they used the right tools for the right job. Through this process, learning became integrated. During this period, as a teacher, I was using observing and using a rubric as a tool for assessment.

During the execution of the task, I allowed them to work in groups and discuss. It was interesting to see adults displaying their skills meticulously although in some instances I had to guide them as some of the information they had was outdated. I had to guide them in the utilization of tools using the latest technology. Each activity given to learners aimed to promote creativity, teamwork and active participation to ensure that they move from the known to the unknown, from the simple to the abstract. The aim was also to sharpen the skills they currently have and reinforce them towards their reintegration back to their communities. The activity was given to promote critical thinking and encourage time management towards running their business (entrepreneurship) upon their release.

During the execution of the task, I was observing and only intervening when there was a challenge or when they asked questions. I also ensured that the most experienced learners do not overshadow the inexperienced learners. Before responding to a question asked, I would allow other learners to attempt to answer it until I see that there is a need for my response. This was done to ensure that I get the most information from them as they carry valuably experienced that needed reinforcement. Each group had a group leader that presented during the process of dismantling the structure. I ensured that I let the execution of the task flow and giving positive comments but also probing them to unleash the skills they have. A sense of reinforcement in my feedback was used. I congratulated the effort they put in their responses to the task given. Even when we were discussing a concept, I would ask probing questions for them to think deeper and thereafter I would use words like excellent, good, you can try again, you are almost there, etc. They were also given written feedback as a rubric was used as a tool for assessment.

I communicated with the learners using verbal, non-verbal cues and written communication. By verbal communication, I guided them during the execution of the task, responding to their question and reinforcing their responses to my questions. By non-verbal cues, I would use gestures to encourage them to think deeper and encourage their participation. This also encouraged their participation as they expected a reinforcement to boost their self-esteem/ego.

During my teaching practice, I have realized that adults have a different way of learning concepts as compared to children/school-going age children. They are informed, just that they are not certificated. If RPL was given the attention it deserves, many would have qualified by going directly to trade tests for example, and perhaps reinforce/harness their skills, here and there. They are actually what Freire discourages about the banking concept. Adults are not vessels that information is just deposited by the teacher. They interact and ask thought-provoking questions that also needed me to do thorough research as indicated earlier.

Adult learners knew why a concept is learned. My work or teaching practice is aligned to Paulo Freire, the theorist because he promoted critical consciousness whereby one has to know the world and what is around them. He encouraged learners to have an in-depth understanding of what they learn. During my teaching practice, I gave my learners to engage and question why things were done differently as compared to what was happening in the past. All that was done in the name of the fourth industrial revolution.

Paulo Freire promoted that learners that the situation they find themselves in must be questioned critically; know why things are done this way, why is that a wrong thing is normalized and the reason why learners must strive to transform it. Every person has the power to change the situation and this can only be done through taking action towards changing it. Learners must question whatever is seen as a reality. Paulo Freire’s work shows the main ideas that he wanted to highlight that there is a need to be conscious and that has to be reinforced in our thinking.

Although my teaching is best described or aligned with Freire’s Theory, I couldn’t overlook Dewey’s theory. According to John Dewey, he sees learning taking place through experiential and interaction. Not far from what Freire observed. This touches on the task I touched on earlier in the assignment regarding the dismantling of the Macpherson Strut of a vehicle. Dewey argued that, rather than the child being a passive recipient of knowledge, as was presumed by many educators of the time, children were better served if they took an active part in the process of their learning. This was also supported by Freire in the pedagogy of the oppressed. Learners must be actively involved in their learning process. This statement is directly in line with how I taught in my time.

Dewey further argued that for education to be at its most effective, children should be given learning opportunities that enabled them to link present content to previous experiences and knowledge. There is a need for learners to engage directly with their environment, in what came to be known as experiential learning, where ‘knowledge comes from the impressions made upon us by natural objects.’ Ultimately, he believed that teachers should not be in the classroom to act simply as instructors, but should adopt the role of facilitator and guide, giving students the opportunities to discover for themselves and to develop as active and independent learners. This supports the pedagogy of the oppressed wherein the banking concept is discussed.

I had to draw a distinction between the theory of Paulo Freire and John Dewey. Between the two although their theories are almost in sync, Paulo Freire provided the best fit for the work I did.

Reference List

  1. Brown, J.S., Collins, A. & Duguid, S. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32-42.
  2. Dewey, J. (2011) Democracy and Education. Milton Keynes: Simon and Brown.
  3. Knowles, M. .a984. The Adult Learner: A neglected Species 3rd Edition. Houston: Gulf Publishing.
  4. Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in Practice: Mind, mathematics, and culture in everyday life. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  5. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1990). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

General Overview Of John Dewey High School

The historical events regarding New York City education is filled with discrimination, race-related and socio-economic segregation, strikes, and more. Schooling for many communities meant they had to fight for it. Students, parents, and so many others would strike and hold up signs, saying they want integration, and that unifying all students would be useful, productive, and rewarding (Shapiro). But at the start of the 20th century, many things began to change for the better. In New York City, choices for education expanded tremendously. Finally, the only remaining separated “colored” was shut down in the 20th century. Documents and diplomas from high school began to be an accredited and essential source for numerous jobs and positions. Women were finally able to look forward to receiving the same options for education and learning as men did. Near the middle of the 20th century, the Board of Education managed 810 schools in all of the five boroughs from their main office at Park Avenue (McCarthy).

While the education system was making positive changes, there were still some people who thought adding and making more changes to the system would be beneficial and would impact the students. One of these people was John Dewey, who was a founder of the pragmatism movement, as well as one of the important leaders of the progressive movement in education and schooling in the United States (Gouinlock). He was so influential with his theories on education, that there was a school built and named after him, called John Dewey High School. This public school was built in Brooklyn, New York, and it was formed on John Dewey’s academic ideas and theories. The school initially opened in 1969, and they started it out with just freshmen and sophomores. According to the New York Times article that was published a day after the school opened, called, “Experimental High School Is Opened in Brooklyn,” it says that, “An experimental high school opened in Brooklyn yesterday with 1,130 pupils who were given an almost free choice of courses, will receive no grades and will attend school eight hours a day” (Handler). The school started off with 1,130 freshman and sophomores, and it successfully grew two years later to include juniors and seniors to the school as well (Handler). The school’s mission, curriculum, teachers, and methods of teaching are just some of the attributes and features that started up the school, as well as maintained it all these years.

John Dewey was born on October 20, 1859 in Burlington, Vermont, and was an American philosopher, as well as a psychologist and a teacher. He started going to college when he was just fifteen years old at the University of Vermont. He studied philosophy and received his bachelor’s degree about five years later. After receiving his degree, he started working as a teacher in both an elementary school and a high school. A few years later, he attended John Hopkins University, where he was able to obtain his Ph.D. degree.

As previously mentioned, Dewey was also known to be a contributor to a very well-known movement known as pragmatism. This movement focuses mainly on people who insist that a belief or theory can be authentic if it works sufficiently and adequately. This means that people, who for the most part focus on thinking and proceeding to do something with a hands-on approach, instead of relying on and using conceptual and theoretical ideas, are pragmatic.

Dewey’s ideas and perspective, as well as his proposals to teaching and education in general, were informative and still remain significant to the present-day teaching and the education system. One thing Dewey is probably most known for is his participation in “progressive education.” This perspective on education and schooling is one that focuses mainly on learning and studying things by actually doing them. From his point of view, he strongly thought that as human beings, we must be able to learn in a practical way and with a more experimental and a direct hands-on approach. From his educational and teaching perspective, this method involves students having to connect with their surroundings and atmosphere for them to be capable to learn (John Dewey on Education: Impact & Theory).

Not only did Dewey think this would only benefit students; he strongly believed that the same principles applied for educators and that they, along with the students, should be able to learn together. The way he looked at a school classroom was with great democratic principles. This significantly and heavily encouraged anyone who wanted to learn to have fair, unbiased, and equal opinions and views. Dewey’s thoughts on education were mainly focused on children. His “child-centered” proposition for education really stressed the importance of studying and learning specifically on the necessities of the children. With his view, children are supposed to be able to search all of their surroundings (John Dewey on Education: Impact & Theory).

Another idea and principle Dewey believed in was “interdisciplinary curriculum.” What this is, is it’s a program of studies with a priority on joining numerous topics together. This enables learners to weave their way inside and outside of classrooms, helping them find their particular interests and hobbies, and letting them create their own trail for gaining and implementing their understanding. He believes that with this circumstance, the instructor should be noticing all of the specific interests of the learners, and then help them to grow and evolve, as well as help them establish problem-solving skills (John Dewey on Education: Impact & Theory).

Last but not least, while Dewey strongly felt that the attention of the children was extremely critical for creating the academic setting, he stressed the significance of the instructor in creating that setting as well. His point was that without the management of a devoted, educated and attentive instructor, the learner’s education would be non-existent. From his view, we see how Dewey was very well into the idea that life and education were closely related and connected. He thought that by considering education as a part of one’s life rather than planning for it, learners would adapt to the idea of becoming self-reliant, problem-solving, and creative people (John Dewey on Education: Impact & Theory).

The first couple of years that John Dewey High School has been opened has been a great success, and students have really come to like it. According to a New York Times article called, “Brooklyn’s Dewey H.S. Is More Like a College,” the author writes that, “There is something strange going on at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn… The strange flung is the students. It seems they like it there” (Quindlen). He described how he saw the students really getting accustomed to the school and the studies. He went on to interview some of the students to ask them more about their daily schooling, and what they like about school. One student said that he thought “It’s like college because you can go outside, do what you want, take what you want” (Quindlen). Another student mentioned how she liked the school mainly because of one of her elective classes, called “Auto Shop.” The way the school was set up when it just opened, was that they had an unmanaged individualistic schooling strategy, also known as the “4-1” program, which allowed the students to work once per week on school time. But as several years went by, the program was not as good as it was when the school was first opened. The budget crisis at the time affected this program a little while after the school was opened, and this came with a few consequences. The usual time schedule for school, which went on from 8 A.M. to 4 P.M., had to be reduced to three days a week instead of five. This meant that there were more school learners per class (Quindlen).

Some more disadvantage that were due because of this budget crisis was that many classes were taken out of the usual curriculum. For example, the Anthropology courses were cut off, their ceramics class was also taken out of the curriculum, and last but not least, there wasn’t a sufficient amount of tools to provide to students who wanted to take a fencing class (Quindlen). While the school was taking a hard hit from this budget crisis a couple of years after they opened the school, they initially had more resources when they began. An example of this would include the marine biology program. This program got their money from the National Science Foundation. Another example would be the Law Institute and the Science Institute, who also received money from sources, some of which include judges, doctors, and lawyers who allowed students from Dewey High School to participate in work with them (Quindlen).

The school tried to incorporate a college environment, as well as making sure students were able to individually make choices of their own, as the principal of the school at the time, Mr. Levine, stated (Quindlen). He went on to say that students who focused on art, for example, were able to take most courses pertaining to the subject. These classes would include, “painting, drawing, jewelry‐making, environmental design, sculpture, printmaking, photography” (Quindlen). This really let the student have a range of choices to choose from and to see what they are more interested in doing, just like a typical college curriculum would include.

The main ideas behind the experimental school were very simple. The first was to let students to study and learn at their own individual pace. The second was to offer students control and authority for creating their own syllabus and schedules, and to be able to complete their courses (Montgomery). Since there were technically five semesters, or “cycles” during their school year, and a big part of the regular school day was committed to individualistic study, learners were given the choice to take classes during their independent study period with something called the Dewey Independent Study Kits. An Independent study is a different approach to learning. During the independent or individual study, a learner is managed and led by the instructor, but the learner does not take regular courses with other learners most days. In this approach to learning, the learner would learn and study individually. This allowed the students to complete more classes and fulfill more requisites in order to advance and graduate high school quicker and sooner (Quindlen). A lot of students who were ready to graduate and were in their last year of high school chose not to leave the school. The reason for this being that they were still able to participate in school activities, as well as take more courses. According to the article, it says that “about 15 percent of Dewey students graduate before they have finished a full four years of high school” (Quindlen). That means that students were able to leave before even reaching their senior year, whether a year early or a semester early, and get into colleges sooner. One of the students who was interviewed for this article, named Alice Fernandes, has said that she originally wanted to go to another school, primarily for the arts, but a teacher let her know about John Dewey High School and so she attended it instead of her first choice. She said that, “the art courses are really good. And I really like the independent study time” (Quindlen). The individual study time seemed to really be working for the school’s curriculum. Many other students found it very convenient. The principal has also agreed and said that the study program was a big part of the school and it was the main focus of the school (Quindlen). Even if students chose to sit and talk during that time, that was the student’s choice. This way, the student’s were able to use this time however they wanted, taking courses or doing their own thing, and this seemed like the best curriculum for the school.

The way the teachers were chosen was pretty simple as well. The principal was given the choice to choose about half of the teachers, and the other half were picked based on the teacher’s standing and position. The teachers were even paid more, solely because the school’s typical day ran for about an hour more than other standard schools (Montgomery). Another difference between the teachers at this high school, was that they were usually younger than teachers found in other conventional institutions. The principal at the time was only 39 years old, and was considered to be the youngest high school principal in the New York City education system (Montgomery).

The school also included clubs as if they were regular courses. They were made to be part of the school day. Clubs were generally tailored to students’ specific appeals or their individual studies, and they were added into their schedule like their regular courses. The principal acknowledged that while “200 of the school’s 2000 students do not appear to be succeeding in the experiment, about 1,100 are taking extra courses through the independent study program” (Montgomery). This shows that a majority of the students were succeeding in their studies and that the layout of the curriculum worked for them.

Parents of the students mostly seemed to like the experimental school but many were worried about how their kids who were graduating would be accepted into colleges since the school had a different grading system. But the principal has mentioned that their unique grading scale would not affect the student’s chances of getting into college (Montgomery). The grades that were given in the high school were, “M for mastery, MC for mastery with, condition, MI for mastery in an Independent study course and R for reterition” (Montgomery). Students who got MC or R were supposed to take the class again and were given descriptive explanations of how they did in the class. These descriptions were made in order to show future instructors how to continue teaching their course (Montgomery).

As previously mentioned, we can see how this high school was more like a “college high school.” This other option of learning was very beneficial for many learners. A research article called, “The College High School: An Educational Alternative,” published in 1973, talks about how this high school was a prime example of “new schools with educational programs that seek to provide a totally new environment—including computer programming, study areas, individualized study programs, longer school days, and greater student freedom” (Golden 32-33). With this type of learning, students were really the ones in charge of their education.

Education is really different for everybody. Every person is able to learn differently. John Dewey High School implemented an alternative to standard and conventional schooling and started a “college high school” layout. The purpose was to have students be able to go at their own pace and to get accustomed and adapt to the college environment. A majority of students found this to be extremely helpful and this curriculum worked very well for them. Many were also able to graduate earlier, meaning some people were able to finish high school in just two years with how the curriculum was set up. By adopting the independent study program, students were able to have a sense of responsibility when it came to choosing how to spend their time wisely, as well as choosing what courses to take and how to set up their schedule. The school was so successful with their methods of learning that the Board of Education started to come up with plans to make more schools have the same curriculum and layout as the John Dewey High School. This high school may not have been for everyone, but it sure helped many get on the right track to kickstart their education and future studies.

Implication Of John Dewey’s Ideas In South African Educational System

South African educational system faces many challenges even in the post-apartheid era (Sefotho, 2018). This essay will focus on the issue of poor discipline in South African schools. In this essay, I will discuss the causes of poor discipline in schools, its implication in the education system, and also what sustains the problem.

Causes

There are different factors that lead to lack of discipline in South African schools. One of the biggest distresses of democratic South Africa is the lack of real change within its education system (Nyoka, DuPlooy, & Henkeman, 2014). The abolishment of corporal punishment in South African schools is one of the causes of lack of discipline in South African schools (NEWS 24, 2012). This has led to learners being disrespectful to teachers as they know they cannot beat them. The abolishment of corporal punishment is believed to have been the biggest mistake made in the South African education system.

In their article, (Mohapi, 2014) states that not only learners must be blamed for poor discipline but also teacher behaviour and home environment involving poor parent involvement. (Mohapi, 2014) Further explains that teachers must understand that sometimes the behaviour of the learner is guided by their behaviour e.g. if a teacher is late for class then the learner will think that it is okay to be late.

Implications

Poor discipline has affected schools in many different ways. Poor discipline hinders effective teaching and learning thus leading to poor quality education (Mohapi, 2014). Most teachers, especially those teaching in overcrowded classrooms spend most of their time trying to keep noise levels down than actually teaching. This not only affects ill-disciplined learners only but also learners that are disciplined. A lot of socio-economic issues such as poverty, crime, and drug and alcohol abuse lead to the issue of poor discipline in schools.

African Philosophy

Introduction

Ubuntu is humanist philosophy which focuses on how people relate to each other and it is translated in English as “humanity” (Ubuntu, 2010). The phrase “motho ke motho ka batho” is commonly used when talking about the philosophy of Ubuntu and it means “I am because you are. According to (Sefotho, 2018), Ubuntu mean being human, showing respect towards others and being empathetic.

Solutions

This philosophy of Ubuntu aims at bringing people of Africa together as one. It provides Africans with a sense of self-identity and self-respect (Nabudere). This African philosophy is very important in education because it guides people on how they need to conduct themselves and relate with other people on daily bases. Since most South African schools struggle with the issue of discipline, Ubuntu philosophy can help schools by instilling its values onto the learners, teachers and parents. Learners will know that for them to be considered human beings they must respect other people and they must also learn the difference between right and wrong behaviour.

The Ubuntu philosophy must be practiced in South African schools as it will not only empower the school as a whole but also the community as a whole. The Ubuntu philosophy means helping one another (Nabudere) and if this is practiced in communities, the social imperative of lack of discipline in schools will be addressed as learners facing socio-economic issues such as poverty and crime will be helped by their community members.

Most learners in schools are not disciplined because they feel like they are on their own or that the teacher does not like them. The Ubuntu philosophy holds the value of inclusion very dearly (Nabudere). If learners feel included in the school, classroom and in their communities, then they may be more disciplined and interested in their school work.

Critiques

As they saying goes, to every good there is bad and the same goes with the philosophy of Ubuntu. According to (Hailey, 2008) Ubuntu philosophy has a dark side which is that it demands an “oppressive conformity and group loyalty.”

Euro-Western Philosophy

Introduction

John Dewey was born in 1959 and was a philosopher who believed in the movement of progressivism (Vakalisa & Gawe , 2016). Dewey emphasized that education must be based on the interests of the learners, their personal experiences and engaging lessons.

Solutions

The philosophical movement of John Dewey which is progressivism focuses on the interest of the learners in a lesson. Many South African schools struggling with discipline must adopt this principle. Teachers must plan their lesson looking at the interests of their learners. This will help with the issue of discipline as learners will be able to focus during the lesson if they are interested.

Experiential learning is the most important and effective way in which learners can become active in the classroom. Dewey stresses the importance of experiential learning because it helps the learner in the classroom to be more active and disciplined.

The other principle that the movement of progressivism focused on was learner engagement. The social imperative of poor discipline in South African schools can be addressed by this principle because when learners are engaged and feel included during the lesson they are likely to misbehave.

Critiques

John Dewey’s philosophy of progressivism was criticized because it is learner-centered, whereas the educational system does not involve the learners only (Cozzarelli, 2017). The other critique that progressivism faced is that not all learners are naturally curious about learning so they need to be guided (Evers, 1998).

Bibliography

  1. Cozzarelli, T. (2017, May 9). A Marxist Critique of John Dewey: The Limits of Progressive Education. Retrieved from Left Voice: http://www.leftvoice.org
  2. Evers, W. (1998, October 30). How Progressive education gets it wrong. Retrieved from Hoover Digest: http://www.hoover.org
  3. Hailey, J. (2008). Ubuntu: A literature review. London.
  4. Mohapi, S. J. (2014). Teachers’ View on Causes of Ill-Discipline in Three Rural Secondary Schools of Nkangala District of Education. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 433-437.
  5. Nabudere, D. (n.d.). Ubuntu Philosophy. Memory and Reconciliation.
  6. NEWS 24. (2012, August 24). news24. Retrieved from news24.com: https://www.news24.com/MyNews24/Lack-of-Discipline-in-Schools-20120824
  7. Nyoka , A., DuPlooy, E., & Henkeman, S. (2014). Reconciliation for South Africa’s education system. ELM MAGAZINE.
  8. Sefotho, M. M. (2018). Philosophy in education and research. Pretoria: Van Schaik publishers.
  9. Ubuntu. (2010). Little drops. Retrieved from Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.thiyagaraaj.com
  10. Vakalisa, N. C., & Gawe, N. (2016). Teaching-learning dynamics. Cape Town: Pearson.

John Dewey Ideas In Reform In The Mauritian Educational Sector

One of the major reform in the Mauritian educational sector is free education which has been implemented at the primary and secondary level for more than a decade and recently applied at the tertiary level. The picture of this reform project is that it provides equal opportunities for all learners to have free access to education. Following these changes, democracy, in terms of equal opportunity, is desired. However, after my engagement with theories, the perception that free education leads to democracy is challenged. To attain democracy, free education is not the sole factor that must be taken into account; other pillars such as social and economic background also need to be considered. Sen, in his discourse, relates democracy to freedom and freedom itself depends on several aspects such as social and economic arrangements, and health facilities (Sen, 1999). To attain a democratic society, the above-mentioned aspects needs to be aligned with education.

When looking at the aspect of free education in Mauritius through the lens of Sen’s discourse, many flaws are revealed. Education may be free; however, for learners to have access to this free education, they need to be equipped with resources and materials. Here, the socio-economic freedom of the individual (family) plays a decisive role; if it happens that the learner does not have the freedom to buy the required materials for school, the effect of equal opportunity negates itself. Similarly, the unfreedom of health facilities proves to be a hindrance in achieving equal opportunity in education. Learners having mild psychological or physical handicap encounter several difficulties, in terms of infrastructural facilities, monitoring, and curriculum, to have access to education. For such type of learners, specialized schools are operating however, as mentioned before, the education they receive differs from ‘the normal’ one; hence there is no equal opportunity for them.

We have seen previously that the educational system does not cover all the areas required to have democracy due to some unfreedom that Sen discussed. Conversely, “Democracy as a form of life” is the definition that Dewey formulated (Dewey, 1923). (McClintock, 2007) explains that according to Dewey, schools need to be perceived as part of the community and execute the civil duties similar to all other institutions. Extending the view of Dewey, democracy can be explained as the way we live together and communicate with each other. In addition, living together in modern society demands public exchange and this is not possible without educated citizens. We can infer that both Sen and Dewey discussed freedom and democracy respectively and that both concepts are connected.

Having indulged with the theories, several questions are raised, how democratic is the educational system? Also, to what extent does the system take into account the needs of individuals to enable them to lead a good and democratic life? From the arguments discussed above, we can gather that lack of certain forms of freedom results in unequal opportunities among learners which implies that democracy cannot be attained.

Furthermore, the exercise of choosing subjects which is a crucial step for further studies is carried out by the students, and the choices that they make will direct them to the careers that they wish to pursue. The concept of choice discussed here is thought that it belongs to the learners. However, having engaged with the theories, it is found that the learners were given the illusion of making a choice, where in reality, the choice has already been made for them, they are directed towards those premade choices by several influences such as the job market, availability of jobs in the different sectors. For instance, taking into consideration the escalating demands in the technology sector, computer science has become a popular subject that students are choosing. Similarly, with the boom in the tourism industry; at the secondary level, the student is prone to choose travel and tourism as a subject, where they recognize that at the end of their studies, they will certainly get a job.

Dewey argued that democracy is frequently and logically linked in our minds with freedom of action, overlooking the significance of freed intelligence which is essential to direct and to warrant freedom of action (Dewey, 1937). Unless freedom of individual action has intelligence and well-versed conviction behind it, its manifestation is almost sure to result in confusion and disorder. Similarly, the democratic idea of freedom is not the right of each individual to do as he pleases. While the idea is not always, not every so often, articulated in words, the elementary freedom is that of freedom of awareness in addition to whatever degree of freedom of action and experience is essential to yielding freedom of intelligence (Dewey, 1937). Therefore, it can be gathered that the concept of choosing a subject by the students is not a democratic one, seeing as their choices are influenced by the several factors listed above.

The choice given to students is a superficial one; for instance, in the selection form, all science subjects are grouped in one column, the account, and economics in another and the art subject in another column, students opting for science can only choose the science subjects. As a result, learners are not provided with the flexibility to choose subjects from different sides. Consequently, seeing that the subjects are discussed and provided by the government, the question of how much freedom do students have to choose their subject, rises. Learners are given the choice to take decisions that have already been made by the government. From a philosophical perspective, we can question the concept of democracy and freedom with regards to the idea of choice. To what extent does democracy caters for diversity when the choices have been made for learners and how the education system is able to claim that it promotes the holistic development of learners when students are facing unfreedom of choice.

Furthermore, the educational reforms made aims at promoting the holistic development of learners and to equip them with 21st century competencies. While we speak of 21st Century Education, it should be noted that being conscious of the fact that amendment is not solely driving the system right, but make sure that our system delivers the correct education as well; one that benefits our pupils, which is significant to them and gets them involved in their own education. This context necessitates a change in the ways in which we conceptualise and envisage education. The education we provide should help young learners attain a degree of autonomy as adults, empowered with the ability to learn and survive in an increasingly complex world.

Reflective Essay on Different Philosophies of Education

Task:

Did any of the varied philosophies surprise you? Did you find that any components ‘spoke’ to you although you didn’t initially think you would agree with that philosophy? Do you think any philosophies spark changes in educational practice or instructional models over time?

Response:

I spent quite some time this week going over the various reading material and philosophies in quite some detail to broaden my understanding of what we are referring to as “philosophy in education”, the impact of this upon the educational system itself and to establish whether or not I find myself in agreement with any of the aforementioned educational philosophies, or not.

I came to the realization that I believe that there is no educational practice which has not in some way been informed by theory or “philosophy”. We as teachers always have an idea of how and what we want to achieve, these ideas are derived from theory somewhere along the line, be that during our training to become a teacher, or from external forces such as our personal experience of the educational journey, our belief system, social surroundings or otherwise. (Kassahun, 2018) stated that;

“one of the roles of philosophy of education is to construct a norm, which when applied to educational problems, will be frequently concerned with establishing standards and formulating goals. Such goals and standards are influenced by philosophical assumptions a person has. Every teacher, for instance, approaches teaching from a philosophical position whether consciously or unconsciously.”

I think the point about this perhaps being an unconscious choice is certainly an interesting one, because if the choices are in some ways unconscious, then they are externally influenced, not simply intrinsic personal beliefs. This poses the question of just how much influence the extrinsic circles we move within have upon our conscious train of thought.

(Dewey, My Pedagogic Creed, 1897) proposes that the main purpose of philosophy is, “to bring to consciousness, in an intellectualized form, or in the form of problems, the most important shocks and inherent troubles of complex and changing societies” (p. 30). In Dewey’s mind, philosophy should motivate change and not simply “preserve” existing social order. (Dewey, My Pedagogic Creed, 1897) specifically argued the necessity for a philosophy of education. In his essay, “The Need for a philosophy of Education,” Dewey theorises that, “while the educator must use results that have already been accomplished [she or] he cannot, if he is truly an educator, make them his final and complete standard. Like the artist he has the problem of creating something that is not the exact duplicate of anything that has been wrought and achieved previously,” (p. 7). In his 1899 book entitled School and Society, Dewey wrote, “Democracy must be reborn with every generation and education is the midwife,” (p. 81, 87). This reinforces his idea that change or the maintenance of the status quo both stem from education and I find myself nodding vigorously in agreement. If we give the youth the tools to critical thinking, they will decide themselves whether to effect change or to accept the norms prescribed by current society, but they must be free to make this choice.

John Locke (1632-1704) was an English-born philosopher who was himself influenced by the Pilgrims in the Netherlands and their Paganistic beliefs. In his work, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” Locke eschewed that the mind was in fact a blank slate and thus, according to him, we learn primarily from external forces. While I cannot entirely agree with this idea since I do feel that we are born with intrinsic ability at the very least, I do agree that children are not born with a predisposition to either good or evil and that ideas such as racism are learnt/taught beliefs, thus philosophy based on external influence. Locke’s ideas are certainly child-centred and he stresses that teachers should teach by example rather than relying on punishment which he felt to be unhealthy.

In contrast, Kant decreed that children should be obedient and dutiful stating that, “above all things, obedience is an essential feature in the character of a child…” and that this obedience should be enforced by the use of punishment. I find myself at logger-heads with this immediately since I firmly believe that “you catch more bees with honey” so to speak than simply by trying to “scare” students into the desired behaviour or response. This has been proven time and time again by researchers such as (Ebbens & Ettekoven, 2013) who, in their book “Effectief Leren” (Effective Learning) explain that there are six steps to effective learning:

  • What must you learn (and WHY)
  • How should you approach this (and WHY)
  • Who can you ask for Help
  • How much time do you have
  • What will happen with the results
  • What are you going to do when you are Finished

Effective learning is a process during which the learner requires help and support, not reprimanding and punishment.

Surprisingly to me, even the Islamic concept of education emphasizes balance, both physical and spiritual between everything. That man is by definition a rational being with the capacity for comprehension, rational deduction and making the distinction between good and bad. I had expected the Islamic education to lean more (or perhaps even solely) towards religious and spiritual educative theories, but it seems clear that the purpose of Islamic educational philosophy is to encourage the student to grow, not only physically, and spiritually, but also mentally and emotionally.

My understanding of it is that revealed knowledge (Naqli) is knowledge which can be acquired either by the student themselves (child-centred) or, rather more effectively, in the eyes of Islamic educators, by the educators themselves transmitting this knowledge to the learner since they are the “expert”. Logical and intellectual knowledge (Aqli) means the logical interpretation of something using inductive or deductive reasoning. While I can see the logic in both of these arguments for teaching, where I find myself recoiling is the idea that these powers of critical thinking and reasoning where somehow ‘bestowed’ upon mankind as a gift from Allah. According to the philosophy of Islamic education, the needs of the student can only be truly met if they are given the opportunity to learn to love Islam and, therefore, they will practice Islamic moral values and integrate into society as a balanced, knowledgeable and educated being as this is the duty of man; to learn and pass on this knowledge to others. In Islam the acquisition of knowledge is obligatory as is the pursuit of balance and rationalism.

As I reflect upon these discoveries, I realize that I too may have been unconsciously biased, because while I do not personally believe that religion has the answers to socio-political problems we find in today’s society, perhaps I was guilty of thinking that it may have caused some of these problems. When we hear about Islam in the news for example, it is mostly in a negative way referring to extremist, radicalized behaviours. The Koran and “Allah” are often blamed for this in the media. However, if you read into their educative philosophies and beliefs, it is clear that there is nothing extremist about it, in fact it extolls balance, morals, and rationality as key virtues along with the pursuit of knowledge which are no different to so-called Western ideals.

This has given me a whole new perspective on things and, while I considered myself to be open-minded, in the future, I must be mindful that my own ‘unconscious’ choices are not externally influenced, but internally monitored and reviewed.

References

  1. Dewey, J. (1897, September 6). My Pedagogic Creed. The School Journal Volume LIV, Number 3, 77-80. Retrieved from Wikisource: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/My_Pedagogic_Creed
  2. Dewey, J. (1899). School and Society. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
  3. Ebbens, S., & Ettekoven, S. e. (2013). Effectief Leren. Nederlands: Noordhoff.
  4. Kassahun, B. (2018). How is your work as a teacher influenced by philosophy of education? Retrieved from researchgate.net: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_is_your_work_as_a_teacher_influenced_by_philosophy_of_education/5aafc12220183943891b448c/citation/download

Theoretical Grounds On Education Of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois And John Dewey

Introduction

As a comparative essay is a theoretical identification of the similarities and differences in any two subjects, this document tries to establish the same between the two thinkers, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois and John Dewey. The main theme of discussion is how the idea of education of the two thinkers differ or concur and how relevant they are in the 21st century. While the time period of both the personalities coincided, they addressed vastly different aspects of education, a hypothesis that will be addressed and adequately answered in the rest of the essay. It begins with a detailed discussion of Du Bois’ ideas about education, the influence of his social experiences and political preferences and the core purpose of such ideals. The next part focuses on the educational ideologies of the second thinker that is John Dewey and how they characteristically differ from Du Bois’. The essay concludes with a brief point-to-point comparison of both the thinkers’ theories with comments on their significance in the 21st century.

Du Bois’ idea of Education

Du Bois’ personal academic excellence can be gauged from the fact that he was the first African-American to receive a doctorate from an Ivy League School-Harvard University and continued to work tirelessly in the realm of education throughout his life (En.wikipedia.org, n.d.). As a dedicated civil rights activist and a strong advocate of African rights he recognized the negative impact that racial segregation and isolation, an ideal deeply embedded in American culture, had on black communities. From quality education to equal job opportunities, the African community faced deprivation and discrimination. For almost forty years of his life, Bois ambitiously and relentlessly supported liberal education for the African-Americans (Greco, 1978, p.77). He struggled for the non-violent integration of African-Americans in public colleges and schools.

Du Bois believed that only equal opportunities in education especially at college-level could enable the black community to excel in various, practical walks of life. It is noteworthy, however, that the key focus of his pedagogic emphasis was classical education. The social conditions of the black people crumbling under the Jim Crow laws in the South and the similarly, stratified North were abhorrent and like most progressive thinkers Du Bois also believed that science and the liberal arts could contribute significantly in solving these problems. In fact he was vehemently opposed to vocational schooling, an idea being promulgated by the American-African educator, Booker Taliaferro Washington through the Atlantic Compromise (Du Bois, 1903). According to this unofficial agreement, the black community in the South was forced to abandon basic human rights and succumb to both racial segregation and white supremacy in exchange for citizenship and recognition (Dill, Morrison and Dunn, 2016, pp. 366).

Fueled by an overwhelmingly sense of liberation and patriotism, Du Bois openly rejected this enduring settlement and continued to rally his slogan of equal education for African-Americans. In his essay ‘Talented Tenth’ (1903) Du Bois gave strong statistical proof to support his arguments. A staggeringly small number of Negro graduates from white colleges showed how injustice and prejudice was stunting black intelligence. Simultaneously, a large number of college-educated black Americans occupying administrative and governmental vacancies indicated that classical education could transform them into leaders, promoting strong social ideals for their communities. In fact Du Bois, believed that this was the sole purpose of education; to produce thinkers, leaders and philosophers who could actively impart their knowledge and wisdom to the rest of the community, rallying them towards prosperity (Du Bois, 1903).

However, it must be borne in mind that Du Bois’ conceptual foundation of education and tutelage was essentially socio-political (Dunn, 1993, p.3). In his point of view integrating black Americans in white educational capacities indicated equality and parity between the two races and could enable the oppressed nation to progress. In fact Du Bois was essentially a man of politics. He held politics in higher regard to both economy and education which resulted in the former heavily influencing the latter two. This is where the shortcomings of Du Bois’ revolutionary educational ideologies materialize. Based on ethnocentrism, his academic ideals largely circulated around freedom for black Americans instead of fulfilling a more universal purpose that included subject understanding, scientific knowledge, and classroom activities etcetera (Dunn, 1993, p.3). According to DuBois’ philosophy classical education was only meant to respond to the oppressions of an inherently racist society and not to address a more general issue of knowledge understanding of the world. In fact most of his educational efforts revolved around attempts for liberation, from the Nigerian Movement to publications like the Souls of Black Folks. His written publications were constant tributes to the valor and genius of black people and a reminder to use ‘double consciousnes’s as their strength and not a reality that crippled them in the past.

Moreover, it can be argued that the very evil of divide and disparity that DuBois fought against can be found in his concept of the Talented Tenth. Du Bois believed that while classical education was more beneficial than industrial education, only a few in the African community could yield all its benefits and rise to the task of forming a strong, uncompromising leadership class, that is precisely every tenth black person (James, 2014). Ergo, as an extension of this concept only a few deserved higher education at white colleges and universities, so they can reach their full potential. Despite its negative implications the notion proved to be extremely popular and useful for a community that was constantly being subjected to degradations by the white patriarchy. From the deep pits of physical and mental enslavement to acceptance as a human race was a long journey and ensuring that there was a strong, capable and dependable leader pulling the rest of the community to its destination not only seemed like a relevant solution then, it hasn’t lost its potency till date (L’Monique, 2013). In conclusion, Du Bois’ educational epitomes were centered at freedom and equality for a disenfranchised African community in America.

John Dewey’s idea of Education

Contrary to Du Bois, John Dewey’s progressive educational theory focused primitively on academic essentials like the dynamics of the classroom, the importance of curriculum and the role of the teacher. In other words, his academic ideals were more universal. Indeed to the point where they became instrumental in the moral foundation of countless American educational institutions in the 21st century. Dewey adopted a child-dedicated approach to pedagogy and believed that for the productive development of the student social interaction was imperative. He portrayed the classroom as a social environment where communication was key, not only for the exchange of knowledge but also for the development of ethical values.

In contrast to the norms of traditional education and sage on stage approach of instruction, Dewey believed that the teaching process must be more engaging, actively allowing students to participate and respond to the changing circumstances. According to Dewey’s educational beliefs, the boundaries of a classroom should allow every student to learn and grow in his/her intellectual capacity and instead of imposing their knowledge on every individual, teachers must function as guides or mentors illuminating the path of wisdom and understanding (Schiro, 2012). This is because Dewey strongly endured that an institution is not only responsible for imparting knowledge, it must teach an individual how to live.

Instead of feeding large chunks of information that students were expected to memorize and reproduce in evaluations and examinations, he proposed indulging the children in real-life situations that could stimulate knowledge from past experiences and educating them as how they must be dealt with effectively. (Flinders and Thornton, n,d,). It was this notion of practical learning and experiential learning that earned Dewey the title of Father of Pragmatism in education. Dewey believed that a child’s education must not be restricted in the four walls of a classroom. Instead they must be encouraged to go outdoors, explore and understand their environment and extract valuable knowledge from their surroundings. This allowed a child’s experience to be more realistic, relatable and authentic and helped him/her learn more and more about the real world (Graham, 2007).

Dewey was of the view that an unreasonable amount of coursework, inadvertently compels students to resort to unethical behavior, a provision which was drastically in contradiction to the spirit of his ideology that is education for social reform. Unlike Du Bois, for whom education was singularly necessary for liberation and political benefit, Dewey believed that it was a source of valuable social improvement and moral development.

Democracy was also a notable theme of Dewey’s academic ideologies (Beckett, 2017). Through his ideas of progressive education he managed to redefine the relationship of democracy and mankind in his book ‘Democracy and Education : An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education,’ published in 1916. Reinventing the conceptual boundaries of democracy Dewey argued that it didn’t only reciprocate to political aspects like voting rights and employment opportunities it had a more broader meaning of sufficiently equipping an individual in a social environment so that he/she can make more sensible and informed decisions, benefitting the community as a whole (Stobie, 2016). In the context of democracy, he laid great emphasis on social responsibility and reliability. He was aware that if democracy had to work on a political level, the change had to be initiated at the grass root level, at the level of each individual citizen educating himself. The educator himself had witnessed two wars, convincing him that it was becoming increasingly important for students to be fully prepared for an unpredictable future. Therefore, excelling in only one subject was not enough. Multi-disciplinary education was the hour of the need and it was crucial that children could tackle real life- problems. Democracy was revolutionary and so must be the view of children towards past theories- they must be reevaluated, questioned and altered to fit the changing circumstances.

In conclusion, James Dewey’s idea of education was focused on establishing modern, progressive educational standards that ensured both the mental and moral development of children.

Conclusion

The above discussion proves that highly prominent and compelling differences can be identified in the ideas of education of both the philosophers. While Du Bois uses academics as an intellectual weapon to break free from the shackles of racial divide and prejudice, Dewey focuses on the finer details of tutelage like the relevance of content, the reputation of a classroom and the responsibilities of teachers. Du Bois’ contributions to education which include his innumerable essays and editorials, are mostly relevant to a particular time, intended for a particular group of people, while Dewey’s publications are more universal sources of valuable information that can aid academicians through many generations. The core theme of Du Bois’ work is the ‘color line’ and the ultimate struggle of those on the darker side of the spectrum for freedom while Dewey encompasses the importance of all social change and reform, democracy being an important notion in this context. Du Bois’ ideas were political while Dewey was inclined towards a moral revolution. To determine the superiority of one’s concepts over another would be equivalent to doing blatant injustice to the unparalleled efforts of both, therefore the relevance of both the visionaries in their respective genres must be acknowledged. De Bois’ theory of the talented tenth introduced the concept of an undeterred and reigning leadership to the world while Dewey’s pragmatism familiarized us with academic principles for a child’s moral and intellectual growth. He reinvented democracy, stripping it off of its common political understanding and laying its importance on the shoulders of each individual in the society. He propagated the notion that democracy is not a right or a provision, it is in fact a way of life. The theories of both the educators hold immense importance in political and academic circles till date. A cause that Du Bois fought for over two centuries ago, has finally been fulfilled as black Americans fill up managerial positions and presidential offices. On the other hand, the educational framework offered by Dewey, is till date being implemented in countless schools and colleges (Williams, 2017).

Life And Contributions Of John Dewey

There are so many legendary people who have contributed to the education process over the past 150 years. However, John Dewey has been a major contributor and tried to change the curriculum to better the students and their adulthood. There will be a few areas that will be discussed in this research paper. The first is will be the background of John Dewey. The second area will be the work that John Dewey contributed to the education system and social progress, and some shortcoming according to other people. Finally, we will see what impact John Dewey’s contribution has had on the educational system today.

Life of John Dewey

John Dewey was born in 1859 in Burlington, Vermont (Ilicia, 2016). Dewey was so smart that he was able to join the University of Vermont when he was just 15 years old. When Dewey was 19 he graduated with his Bachelors’s in philosophy. Dewey’s cousin was a principal at a seminary school in Pennsylvania where he had the ability to hire Dewey as a teacher (Total History.com). However, Dewey’s cousin resigned as principal and Dewey lost his job too. At 22 years old, Dewey decided to go back to Vermont and he began working as a teacher in a private school. Dewey found himself studying philosophy and psychology a lot and decided that he wanted to go back to school for his doctorate in philosophy at John Hopkins.

When Dewey graduated with his doctorate, he was offered a job as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan. Dewey met his wife while working at the University of Michigan and they had six children (Kliebard, 2004). In 1894, Dewey and his wife started an experimental school during the time Dewey was working as the head of the philosophy department at the University of Chicago. Dewey’s wife was fired so Dewy resigned and look for another job Finally, Dewey was offered a job at Columbia University where he became a professor of philosophy. This was Dewey’s dream job since philosophy was what he enjoyed so much. Dewey, his wife started their own school called the University Elementary School while he worked at Columbia in 1896. Dewey retired from Columbia University in 1929 and he passed away in 1952 (Ilicia, 2016). John Dewey wanted to accomplish many things in his lifetime. In Dewey’s lifetime, he ended up being an educator, a philosopher, a progressive theorist, an experimentalist, a socialist, and a pragmatist.

John Dewey’s Contributions to the Educational System

John Dewey worked hard to change the educational and social system. Dewey thought that students learn from human experiences and the students can help change the future depending on what they learn throughout their lifetime (Vaughan, 2018). During all of the different jobs that Dewey had, he always worked on finding a way to implement his theory of learning from human experiences. When Dewey took the job at Columbia University, he had that opportunity. Dewey, his wife and a couple of other colleagues started the University Elementary School, which was also known as the Dewey Laboratory School (Holt, 2020). This school was used to help teach and learn to the highest achievement. Dewey saw that each child is different in their own way. He also noticed that children learn differently. Dewey’s ideas were to find the best way possible for everyone to learn new things each and every day that can help them when they grow up and move into adulthood (Ilicia, 2016).

Dewey believes that the books are just tools that help prove some of the areas that the teachers are already teaching through the knowledge of what they already know. Children need to have some time to become interested in something in order to want to learn about that subject. Giving the students an opportunity to learn through experiences will give them some control over their own learning development. The parents spend a lot of time working with their children at home with different types of real-life experiences. However, the teachers at the schools have to have some control over education, environment, and experiences that these children can have a privilege to learn about. By doing these things, the students will have a richer education through real-life experiments that can be used in their homes and communities someday (Goldman, Heddy, & Laird, 2018). Dewey states, “Knowing is just something we do…” (Stoller, 2018, pg. 453). Unfortunately, the parents began doing less and less at home which caused the teachers to take on a lot more developments in these children’s minds. The teachers spend more time working with the students to learn everyday life concepts that they will need to know when they are no longer living at home. Even though Dewey spent a lot of his life working on his human experience projects in school, he also was an advocate for social justice with different cultures (Vaughan, 2018).

John Dewey and Social Justice and Peace

Dewey used to think that just one race could do everything that needs to be done in the United States. However, Dewey figured out that it took the combination of all people to have a democratic way of living (Vaughan, 2018). Dewey was one of the biggest advocates for racial justice. Dewey wanted to make sure that all children had the right to have a good education. It was important to Dewey to get everyone to understand the idea that all people should have the ability to have personal growth where they can share their own strategies for having a good life through experiences. Not allowing all people to communicate is impeding the wide variety of knowledge that we all can use (Bolin, 2019). Therefore, Dewey discusses that communication should be considered a necessity in our daily lives just like have to have food, water, and other resources that keep us living.

After World War I, Dewey changed the way he thought about social justice. There has been way too much violence and antisocial behaviors in schools, at homes, in the communities, and around the world (White, 2015). Even though Dewey did not do as much as he could have he worked hard to make the world safer for all Americans (Cohan & Howlett, 2017). In fact, Dewey thought seriously about teaching about world peace to the students at school. Dewey was hoping that he could change the world by getting the younger generation to seek out alternatives to war. However, after working on the concept of peace in the world, Dewey found out that he may not be able to change the way people think about war. This is when Dewey realized that it was important to teach students about History and Geography (Cohan & Howlett, 2017). This way Dewey could teach students that they have to learn to be more tolerable before they choose to go to war instead. Dewey also wanted to make sure that teachers would not take away the fact that the students could be open and discuss how they feel about the war and peace among the different countries.

Shortcomings According to Others

According to White (2015) there are many people who believe that Dewey does not give the teachers the ability to truly teach the students beyond their actual human living experiences. Children can have so much more knowledge than the parents can teach them. The parents should teach their children everyday living and give them knowledge of how the world works, but teachers should have the right to teach the children more than just those things. People also feel like these children are being taught without any discipline or direction that they may have to head in their lives. Children need to have structure and understand how to deal with troubles that may come about in their lives (White, 2015). Unfortunately, these shortcoming has not exactly been proven, but they are accusations that some people have accused Dewey of doing with his form of human living experiences.

Dewey’s Contributions to Today’s Education

One thing that Dewey had done years ago that we all know is still being done today is project-based learning. Being able to give the students the ability to learn from their own experiences by doing labs or project has been influential for many of years (Holt, 2020). Doing labs or projects keep students always wondering what they can find out. Students really enjoy learning through projects because they can experiment until they find what works. Another way that Dewey has contributed to education today is through the use of child-centered teaching. Even though the child-centered or whole child teaching has been expanded on, it is still a big part of education the children in school now. Making sure that the teachers work with the students at their own individual levels, helping students with any type of social problems, and making sure that they are loved in every way are the most important part of whole child teaching (Holt, 2020).

Conclusion

John Dewey was a smart young man that had a big heart when it came to social justice, peace, and children. He wanted to make a difference in each aspect while he was alive. Dewey has been a huge influence on the educational process for over 100 years. The ability to bring about the concept of child-centered education has gone a long ways. Allowing the students to learn through their own curiosities is something that no one else has even though about and it made a big impact on the children in society. Even though some of the concepts have been changed up a little, we all know that it started with John Dewey and his ideas.

References

  1. Bolin, G. (2019). Social progress and its measures. Media Development, 65(2), 21–24.
  2. Cohan, A., & Howlett, C. F. (2017). Global Conflicts Shattered World Peace: John Dewey’s Influence on Peace Educators and Practitioners. Education & Culture, 33(1), 59–88. https://doi.org/10.5703/educationculture.33.1.0059
  3. Goldman, J. A., Heddy, B. C., & Laird, S. (2018). An Interdisciplinary Discourse between Dewey and Self-Determination Theory: Motivation in the Wake of Monetizing Education. Education & Culture, 34(2), 89–94.
  4. Holt, L. (2020). John Dewey: A Look at His Contributions to Curriculum. Academicus : International Scientific Journal, 21, 142. https://doi.org/10.7336/academicus.2020.21.12
  5. Ilicia, A. (2016). On John Dewey’s Philosophy of Education and Its Impact on Contemporary Education. Journal Plus Education / Educatia Plus, 14(1), 7–13.
  6. Kliebard, H.M. (2004). The Struggle for the American Curriculum: 1893-1958 (3rd. ed.). New York, NY: RoutledgeFalmer.
  7. Stoller, A. (2018). The Flipped Curriculum: Dewey’s Pragmatic University. Studies in Philosophy & Education, 37(5), 451–465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-017-9592-1
  8. Vaughan, K. (2018). Progressive Education and Racial Justice: Examining the Work of John Dewey. Education & Culture, 34(2), 39–68.
  9. White, B. (2015). Scapegoat: John Dewey and the character education crisis. Journal of Moral Education, 44(2), 127–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2015.1028911

The Pedagogy Of John Dewey And Its Application In Education

John Dewey is known as the master-mind in the history of learning theories. It’s not possible for anyone to exclude his work or ignores his particular theory ‘Experience and Education’. John gave authentic views regarding education and its system. He was persuasive in so many parts of scholastic modification, so choosing a portion of his work is injustice with him, so here we will discuss so many areas in which he had done a tremendous job or called his master-piece.

Already the constructivist theories of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky were commonly recognized, Dewey was come up with the idea about how students understand the concepts best when they involved in the curriculum designing phase along with the classroom setup. They learn actively as the syllabus is designed according to their need and preference of learning styles. He disagrees with the theory – behaviorism – as he thinks it’s one-dimensional and fails to explain the difficult learning methods. It provides insufficient information to the learners and they left confused. He proposed that lessons will be transformed on the basis of child needs; make them active, involve them in different strategies and methods, rather than making them sitting and listening lessons. He strongly rejected the traditional style of learning in which classes are teacher-centered. He also promotes diversity and equality. His main focus is on communal education. At the end of the 20th Century, these points were important thoughts.

In addition, he discussed that learning process should be efficient, give chances to the students to relate their prior knowledge with the new concept. They relate the information with real-life experiences. This was a mile stone concept for that particular time. The main aspect in Dewey’s theories was the requirement for students to involve directly with the atmosphere, which later known as experiential learning, where ‘information and experience should be gained by actually doing.’ John Dewey’s strategy later becomes the baselines of many other theories like problem-based learning and inquiry based learning which are similar in concept.

Nevertheless, Dewey was focusing on the student’s capabilities, he try to justify by giving equal importance to student teacher and the syllabus which is being taught. He is also considering the ways in which knowledge is been transferred. Eventually, his purpose was that teachers should not take much time in talking in the classroom, she act like a facilitator, she ignite the light and let the student’s will explore what’s going on in the class. They will guess what they are learning and relate that with their real-life. They become an active independent learner as well as reflect their own learning in order to remove all the confusions and errors. Nowadays, this idea is adopted by many institute and they run their educational system on this basis.

John Dewey And The Reggio Emilia Approach

During my research whilst in my EdLab journey I found myself interested in the Reggio Emilia approach, which sees the philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey as a key influence to their practice (Rinaldi, 2004: p6). The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education was created post world war II by pedagogist Loris Malaguzzi and parents in the villages around Reggio Emilia. Dewey’s educational concepts such as play-based learning, project-based activities, and hands-on activities are all known educational methods used in Reggio Emilia schools. What suddenly became clear to me was that John Dewey’s educational concept of project based learning was being applied to all the EdLab students, and at the same time it was what we were applying to the children in the workshops.

What follows is an account of the three of Dewey’s principals in experiential education and how they are present in the Reggio Emilia Approach. Firstly, we will discuss Dewey’s conclusions on experiences. The philosopher maintained that in traditional education children were treated like sponges. expected to absorb isolated information arbitrarily based on a pre-determined curriculum that naturally became increasingly outdated (Dewey, 1961: p19). In contrast to this type of education, he proposed that children should be subjected to principals of growth rather than reaching a determined end goal such as passing an exam. He suggested doing this through experiential education, a type of learning which comes from life experiences that can be completed successfully through project-based learning. Similarly to Dewey’s proposals, the Reggio Emilia approach consisted in experiential learning, children are consistently given real world materials to engage with and real world tasks to complete. In his book Experience and Education, Dewey poses the following question: how does one go about creating valuable experiences for pupils? This takes us to the second principal in Dewey’s theory of experiential learning: the role of the teacher.

Traditionally, teachers are considered agents that relay knowledge from text books, and text books were considered the highest representation of wisdom from the past (Dewey, 1938: p20-21). Dewey wrote that learning meant acquiring what was already in books and that this practice would hinder a child’s learning by preventing them from making their own discoveries, and that it ‘put a great restriction upon intellectual and moral freedom’ (Dewey, 1961: p:63). Dewey notes:

‘The teacher’s business is to see that the occasion is taken advantage of. Since freedom resides in the operations of intelligent observation and judgment by which a purpose is developed, guidance given by the teacher to the exercise of the pupils’ intelligence is an aid to freedom, not a restriction upon it.’ (Dewey, 1961: p:72).

The role of the teacher should therefore be one of guidance that doesn’t hinder a child’s opportunity for discoveries that could lead to meaningful and lasting knowledge. In the same way, the Reggio Emilia approach defined the role of the teacher as one of guidance and teachers should be seen as partners, nurturers, and mentors (Cadwell, 2013: p5). In summary, Dewey’s findings and the Reggio Emilia Approach argue that the teacher should be there as a starting point for learning, and seeing that the experience ‘is taken advantage of’, which takes us to our third principal, the environment of the experience.

‘The belief that all genuine education comes about through experience does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally educative.’ (Dewey, 1938, p:26). Dewey promoted the importance of creative learning environments in order for an experience to be beneficial, and it was the responsibility of the teacher to ensure the environments were favourable to the students to ensure learning opportunities. Likewise, the Reggio Emilia Approach advocates the importance of the learning environment and goes as far as considering the environment as the ‘third teacher’ (Rinaldi, 2006). The aesthetics and the use of a space should encourage creativity, communication, and relationships.

Dewey and the Reggio Emilia approach in EdLab

The three principals above extracted from Dewey’s philosophy on education can be applied to my experience throughout EdLab as a student, and they can also be applied to the workshop that was carried out at the school we visited. In my personal case as an EdLab Student, the experience that my lecturers facilitated was an opportunity to create and deliver a workshop. Secondly, although my lecturers were present throughout the project and were the starting point for my learning experience, they were available on a consultant basis and did not have any input on how we would run the workshop, other than providing us with a time slot. Last of all, we were provided with various workspaces throughout our EdLab conferences including creative environments where we could work with clay, social situations in which we had to discuss ideas, and tutorials in which we could review and catch up on research. In the case of the workshop my EdLab group and I delivered, although on a smaller scale, the fundamentals of Dewey’s philosophy and the Reggio Emilia approach can also be applied to our workshop. Firstly, we provided young children with the experience of working with clay to better their language. Secondly, we were present during the workshop to guide the children and provide them with a starting point for learning, using the medium of clay and literary theory that we discussed during the workshop whilst ensuring we did not focus solely on the transmission of knowledge. Last of all, we arranged the class in small groups with desks in a circle to encourage social engagement, sharing, and creativity between the children.

Education today

All things considered, researching Dewey, the Reggio Emilia approach and being part of an EdLab project has opened my eyes to the current issues in education. Similar to Dewey’s statements, children are still expected to learn a considerable amount of subject matter that becomes useless as it is learned in isolation with the objective of passing an exam. Education was created to meet the needs of industrialism, as a consequence, the hierarchy of subjects always ranks mathematics and sciences at the top and the arts are always left at the bottom. The language of clay offers an example of how students can learn things through a creative medium, preventing the teacher from becoming an agent that solely relays information, and offering the student the opportunity to make their own learning discoveries.

All aspects of education are standardised and treat every student equally when each student has something different to offer, as we saw from the example of the girl that took part in the clay workshop. We must then consider that if every child is different, their needs will never be the same, and it is the responsibility of the teacher to nurture and guide them in their learning environment. We must work to leave behind the culture of standardisation that is prevalent in education today, and teach students that it is okay to make mistakes, there is sometimes more than one right answer, and that there is more to education than meeting exam targets.

The research in this paper has offered examples on how the structure of EdLab can be placed upon the foundations of Dewey’s educational philosophies, and how the Reggio Emilia approach proved successful in The Language of Clay workshop, with learnings made both from the children in the classroom and the university students delivering the session.

From my perspective, more studies are needed to explore how schools have changed, and how we can nurture principals of growth (Dewey) rather than coaching students to reach a determined end goal. The challenge now is how current teachers can work to achieve a positive change in the current educational system, I for one believe that there is more to education than the mere transmission of knowledge.

Bibliography

  1. Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Oxford Further Education Unit
  2. Dewey, J. (1916). Thinking In Education. Democracy and Education: An Introduction To The Philosophy of Education. New York: The Free Press.
  3. Williams, G.H. and Wood, M.M., 2010. Developmental Art Therapy in the Classroom. Xlibris Corporation.
  4. Cadwell, L.B. & NetLibrary, I. 2003, Bringing learning to life: the Reggio approach to early childhood education, Teachers College Press, New York.
  5. Rinaldi, C., 2004. In dialogue with Reggio Emilia: Listening, researching and learning. Routledge.