John Dewey Democracy And Education Summary

The sixteenth century America is primarily dominated by the Puritan idealism, but slowly through the year’s things are changing both in the religion and culture. In human nature the constant need for change is captivating, a change towards something new and different than the current. The events of the growing and changing eighteenth century America reflect just that. Ideas of the Enlightenment take deep root in the transformation of ideas about human’s relationship to God and to nature. Therefore, a deeply religious society starts transforming into a more secular culture, but religion still has quite a large influence. There is a big emphasis placed on education, which is now readily available compared to previously when manly rich landowner’s children had the means to attend school and get education. In this newly emerging curious society effected by the Enlightenment dramatic political and literary changes start taking place, among other fluctuations.

In the eyes of many, education is felt to be the key to creating a better society. Schiro (2013), shares that Social Reconstructionists feel that our society is threatened by many problems, however, “…education provides the means by which society is to be reconstructed” (p. 152). Corruption from poverty, racism, sexism, etc. were seen to be an educator’s issue even in the early twentieth century and although society has evolved over the years, these are the same issues educators currently face. John Dewey tried to meet these challenges head on in the early 1900’s by creating a school where students participated in social experiences that not only allowed for learning of content knowledge, but also gave students the opportunity to construct

Horace Mann was the leading voice in the common school movement. The purpose of the common school was to create a school, open to everyone, that was not “influenced by private or religious societies.” Mann’s vision of the common school is outlined in his annual reports to the Massachusetts Board of Education. In his tenth and twelfth report he pushed for universal, public education, revolving around similar curriculum. He emphasizes the importance of school as the place where children cultivate their moral character and are instilled with ethical values. He states that “moral education is a primal necessity of social existence.” His method of addressing teaching values within an institute was to separate the common school from a specific religious

Dewey stated that “the educational process has two sides - one psychological and one sociological” (Dewey, J. 1987, pg. 256). What this means is that in Dewey’s

In the “Against Schools” article, author John Gatto describes the modern day schooling system and its flaws. He uses several rhetorical strategies in trying to prove his point. He successfully uses all three types of rhetoric in writing this article, which includes ethos, pathos, and logos. He establishes these strategies very early, and often throughout the article. He believes one issues with today’s schooling system is boredom, and that there is a distinct difference between what it means to be educated and schooled. He uses his experience as a public school teacher in his effort to exercise this opinion that he has, which establishes his first rhetoric strategy.

Dewey’s vision for education could not be any farther from the truth of how today’s school systems operate. Instead of focusing on students’ aptitudes and expanding on them, the Board of Education confines everyone into a box. Any person who doesn’t fit into that box, doesn’t excel in standardized testing, doesn’t have the chance to succeed in life. As Dewey said, “The notion that the essentials of elementary education are the three Rs mechanically treated, is based upon ignorance of the essentials needed for realization of democratic ideals.” Students lose themselves once they reach high school, cemented in the same pattern of just trying to get the work done, never actually enjoying learning.

This study is anchored on John Dewey’s Theory of Experience (Fishman & McCarthy, 1998). Dewey postulated that while “all genuine education comes about through experience it does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally educative.” (Dewey, 1938) This conviction that many experiences were miseducative led him to develop a criteria for defining educative quality of experience. He elaborated on these criteria as the two fundamental principles of experience. He created a dialectic that linked experience and education; these linkages are called Principle of Continuity and Principle of Interaction.

Malcolm X once said “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepared for it today.” In the western world education plays a vital role in shaping our future; it determines if we will survive or fail in the world we created for ourselves. Our world is constantly changing and it requires a society that is well versed in understanding the problems deriving from cultural differences and tolerance of one another’s beliefs and perceptions. With the power of education we are able to deal with the problems of economic, government, religion and culture differences.

“The Common School is the greatest discovery ever made by man,” said Horace Mann a fundamental 19th Century education reformer. Horace Mann’s focus on education was to get equal education for all, no matter the class.

With time ideals change, and the school system has become complicated with more interest in education and increased in involvement from political leaders. Numerous concerns developed such as the matter of sex education and character education. However, in the modern times of technology and innovation, the United States of America is driven by numbers regarding economics. Therefore, the finest purpose of education is to prepare students for careers and contribute to the national economy to compete globally. One of the following theorists that supports this concept is Horace

What remains the one saying that parents always tell their child? Get an education. Humans have heard it over and over again. One needs a good education to get anywhere in this world. The positive impact of education has proven as one of the most important factors for every human. In Chapter 4: “Education” of the book The Language of Composition by Renée H. Shea, different views on education become apparent. Moreover, our schools may not serve the goals of true education because of the way students participate in teachings, why and how the teachers teach, and the way the students get taught to comprehend information given to them.

Identify one idea that you associate with Dewey’s philosophy of education, which you feel can be illustrated by drawing on your own experience of teaching and learning, e.g., the idea of the school as a community, the idea that young children have the trait of plasticity, etc. Explain Dewey’s idea as clearly as you can, using quotes and references to commentators as appropriate. Then give a concrete example of that idea in practice (it should be something that you have observed in a school or college setting);

Education can be explained as the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits, and is the most valuable resource that one could have in life as, firstly, education facilitates learning and critical thinking, secondly, it allows for dreams of the future in terms of success to become a reality and lastly, it prevents the children of today from risking their future due to the influence of environmental hazards (Brooks, 2006). After studying the points discussed, it can be said that education plays an important role in the development of each and every human being and is not on categorized under scholarly education but rather any experience that allows an individual to broaden his/her knowledge. Amy Gutmann, an American political theorist proposed a theory surrounded around the democratic state of education requiring parents and states - to surrender some educational authority to professional education staffs’, also indicating that the children of today do not just benefit from freedom of choice, or identification with and participation in the positive aspects of their family and political aspects of the society. Amy’s theory is based on the characterisation of the three models of educational control namely Locke’s Theory of Parental control,

“Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy,” said Benito Mussolini. By the time one enters the third grade they become aware of concept of democracy. Specifically in America, one is taught that they live in a democratic society. When asking what is democracy, the answer is never truly defiente. The answers given may be; a society where everyone votes, or by dictionary definition “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of the state; typically through elected representation.” However when analyzing the etymology of the word democracy we come to find out that demos means the people and kratia means rule or power in greek. As stated in the article “The Problem with Democracy Today,” contrary to other political institutions who holds the power is not clearly stated “if the regime is a

Reda (2015) states “If we want to see the world as a just and fair place where everyone is given equal opportunities, education is what we require. Education is a must if we want to do away with the existing differences between different social classes and genders. It opens a whole world of opportunities for the poor so that they may have an equal shot at well-paying jobs.” Creating education in a democratic state has been aimed by many states, theorists, philosophers and so on. Countries in this era have succeeded is aiming for a democratic education, some are getting there and other countries fail in creating a democratic education. The manner in which manner is received plays a crucial role in the life of everyone but as much as that is important to the human existence, the manner in which education is given is just as vital. Amy Gutmann “proposes a democratic state of education that requires parents and states to cede some professional authority to professional educators. Meaning the good of children includes not just individual freedom of choice, but also identification with and participation in the good of their family and the politics of their society” (Divala & Mathebula, 2016, p. 275). The below will discuss Amy Gutmann’s theory of democratic education briefly, the South African education system and the extent to which it resonates with Gutmann’s theory and four aspects of the current education system that can be improved to enhance democracy in education system.