FREE ESSAY ON REPORT ON JOHN DEWEY

REPORT ON JOHN DEWEY

Report on John Dewey
By Suzanne Delahanty
Table of Contents
Page 3 oDewey's History
oDewey's Early Philosophical Influences 
Page 4 Dewey's Early Work 
Page 5 Dewey and the Progressive Education Movement
Page 6 Dewey's Proponents and Influenced Movements 
Page 7 Opponents of Progressive Education
Rediscovering Dewey In The New Century
Page 8 Bibliography 
Dewey's History
Born 1859 in Burlington, Vermont, Dewey was a highly influential American philosopher and
educator. He graduated from the University of Vermont, in 1879, then later received his
Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University in 1884. He also taught at the universities of
Minnesota (1888-89), Michigan (1884-88, 1889-94), and Chicago (1894-1904) and at Columbia
from 1904 until his retirement in 1930. Dewey died in 1952.
Dewey was a prolific writer, authoring many books on philosophy and educational theory.
Among the most notable are: are Psychology (1887), The School and Society (1899), Ethics
(1908), Democracy and Education (1916), Reconstruction in Philosophy (1920), Human Nature
and Conduct (1922), Experience and Nature (1925), The Public and Its Problems (1927), The
Quest for Certainty (1929), Philosophy and Civilization (1932), A Common Faith (1934),
Art as Experience (1934), Liberalism and Social Action (1935), Experience and Education
(1938), Logic: The Theory of Inquiry (1938), Freedom and Culture (1939), and Problems of
Men (1946).
Dewey's Early Philosophical Influences
Dewey's original philosophy, called Instrumentalism, bears a relationship to the
utilitarian and pragmatic schools of thought. Instrumentalism holds that the various
modes and forms of human activity are instruments developed by human beings to solve
multiple individual and social problems. Since the problems are constantly changing, the
instruments for dealing with them must also change. Dewey also helped lead a
philosophical movement called Pragmatism This theory was strongly influenced by the
then-new science of psychology and by the theory of evolution proposed by the English
scientist Charles R. Darwin. With Pragmatism, Dewey came to regard intelligence as a
power that people use when they face a conflict or challenge. He believed that people
live by custom and habit. Eventually Dewey conceived of democracy as a primary ethical
value, and he did much to formulate working principles for a democratic and industrial
society, particularly in the field of education, which later became known as the
Progressive movement. The sources of Dewey progressive movement are attributed to the
pedagogy of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Johann Pestalozzi, and Friedrich Froebel.
In education, his philosophy became a primary factor in the abandonment of authoritarian
methods and in the growing emphasis upon learning through experimentation and practice.
In rejection against abstract learning, Dewey considered education as a tool that would
enable the citizen to integrate culture and vocation effectively and usefully. Dewey
actively participated in movements to forward social welfare and woman's suffrage,
protect academic freedom, and effect political reform.
Dewey's Early Work
John Dewey maintained that schools should reflect the life of our society. He suggested
that the schools also take on such responsibilities as the acculturation of immigrants in
addition to merely teaching academic skills. Dewey also proposed a number of specific
curricular changes that had strong impact on his subsequent reformers. At his Laboratory
School in Chicago, for example, Dewey developed a method at the turn of the century which
younger student groups worked on a central project related to their own interests. (Early
cooperative learning). The division of more advanced work into units organized around
some central theme was an attempt to adapt the method to the academic needs of older
children. Several other significant progressive movements were spurred by Deweys early
Chicago School experiments. They included the Gary plan, developed (1908) in Gary, Ind.
Devised to utilize the school plant more efficiently, to provide opportunity for more
practical work, and to coordinate various levels of schooling, the plan divided the
school building into classrooms and space for auditorium, playground, shops, and
laboratories. Two schools ran simultaneously in this space so that every facility was in
constant use. The school day was eight hours long, and schools were open six days a week.
The Gary plan was widely adopted. The Dalton plan (1919), at Dalton, Mass., subdivided
the work of the traditional curriculum into contract units, which the student undertook
to accomplish in a specified amount of time. The Winnetka plan, established (1919) in
Winnetka, Ill., separated the curriculum into the subjects handled by the Dalton
technique and used the cooperative method of creative social activities developed by
Dewey. 
Dewey and Progressive Education 
Dewey is known as the father of the Progressive movement in American education. During
most of the twentieth century, the term progressive education has been used to describe
ideas and educational programs that aim to make schools more effective agencies of a
democratic society. Although there are numerous differences of style and emphasis among
progressive educators, they all basically share the belief that democracy means active
participation by all citizens in social, political and economic decisions that will
affect their lives. The education of engaged citizens, according to this perspective,
involves two essential elements: 
(1). Respect for diversity, meaning that each individual should be recognized for his or
her own abilities, interests, ideas, needs, and cultural identity.
(2). The development of critical, socially engaged intelligence, which enables
individuals to understand and participate effectively in the affairs of their community
in a collaborative effort to achieve a common good. 
(These elements of progressive education have been termed Child-centered and Social
Reconstructionist approaches.)
The Progressive movement was an educational phenomenon, embracing industrial training,
agricultural education, and social education as well as the new techniques of instruction
advanced by educational theorists. John Dewey believed that democratic freedom was both
the cause and the expression of the fullest possible realization of human potentialities.
Further, he believed that democracy must be both a way of life and a habit of mind, as
well as a moral standard for personal conduct. Key points of the movement were that
children learn best in those experiences in which they have a vital interest and that
modes of behavior are most easily learned by actual performance. The progressives believe
that education must be a continuous reconstruction of living experience based on activity
directed by the child. The recognition of individual differences was also considered
crucial. Progressive education opposed formalized authoritarian procedure and fostered
reorganization of classroom practice and curriculum as well as new attitudes toward
individual students. 
Deweys Proponents and Influenced Movements
Led by Dewey, progressive educators opposed a growing national movement that sought to
separate academic education for the few and narrow vocational training for the masses.
During the 1920s, when education turned increasingly to scientific techniques such as
intelligence testing and cost-benefit management, progressive educators insisted on the
importance of the emotional, artistic, and creative aspects of humans. After the
Depression began, a group of politically progressive educators, led by George Counts,
dared schools to build a new social order and published a provocative journal called The
Social Frontier to advance their reconstructionist critique of laissez faire Capitalism.
Similar pedagogical methods were also instituted in many of the schools of Europe.
William H. Kilpatrick was a notable proponent of Dewy's teachings and he diligently
taught the principles of progressive education to thousands of teachers and school
leaders throughout his career. A major research endeavor, the eight-year study,
demonstrated that students from progressive high schools were capable, adaptable learners
and excelled even in the finest universities. 
Other educational reform movements that have been influenced by or are similar to
progressive education are Open Education, the Summerhill School, and the methods of Maria
Montessori. Many ubiquitous teaching concepts now highly integrated in education such as,
Open classrooms, schools without walls, cooperative learning, multiage approaches, whole
language, the social curriculum, experiential education, and numerous forms of
alternative schools all have important philosophical roots in progressive education.
In addition, Activities programs were designed to supply certain aspects of progressive
education to those schools in which more radical adjustments were not possible. These
activities included clubs, student self-government, and school publications. 
Opponents of Progressive Education
Progressive principles have never been the predominant philosophy in American education.
From their inception in the 1830s, state systems of public schooling have primarily
attempted to achieve cultural uniformity, not diversity, and to educate dutiful, not
critical citizens. From its start, the movement received rather sharp criticism from a
variety of different sources, particularly for its failure to emphasize systematic study
of the academic disciplines. Beginning in the 1950s during a time of cold war anxiety and
cultural conservatism, progressive education became widely rejected. Opposition increased
greatly in the years following World War II, and many say that by the late 1950s the
progressive movement had dissolved. By that time, however, the progressive movement had
already effected a permanent change to the teaching climate in American schools, and many
progressive schools across the country were already firmly established. Criticism of
Progressives is still highly prevalent and continues to oppose Dewey's Democratic ideals.
There are many claims that Progressive education is at fault for the decline in our
educational systems in America, blaming it on an anti-knowledge mind set. Opponents claim
that too many cooperative projects and touchy-feely experiences leave little time to
teach our students hard-core real academic standards of reading, writing, math and
science skills. In addition, since Dewey was considered an Evolutionist that derived much
of his thinking from the work of Charles Darwin, many religious conservatives oppose his
methods. Since strict Christians embrace a creationist view, they largely blame Dewey for
the acceptance of Darwin's Evolution theory into our public schools and even claim that
our public schools lack of emphasis on religion has created a moral decline of our
schools.
Rediscovering Dewey in the 21st Century
Today, educators (just like us in ED605!), are rediscovering Dewey's work and exploring
its relevance to a postmodern age, an age of global capitalism, increased immigration and
extensive cultural diversity. Dewey's ideals start to really make sense in an age in
which the ecological health of our planet itself is now seriously threatened. Activist
educators in inner cities have advocated greater equity, justice, diversity and other
democratic values through the publication Rethinking Schools and the National Coalition
of Education Activists, which glean much from Dewy's ideals. 
Educators are finding that although Dewey writings are now almost a century old, his
insights into democratic culture and meaningful education suggest many hopeful
alternatives to the banality of standardization and mechanization that threaten to
continue to permeate throughout our schools. 
Bibliography
J. Dewey, The School and Society (1899)
H. Rugg and A. Shumaker, Democracy and Education (1916)
Roger Soder, Democracy, Education, and the Schools (1996). 
George Wood, Schools that Work: America's Most Innovative Public Education Programs by
(Dutton, 1992). 
Wilford M. Aikin, The Story of the Eight-Year Study (Harper, 1942). 
The Columbia Encyclopedia: Sixth Edition (2000)
World Book Encyclopedia: CD ROM Fifth Edition (2000)
Web Resources:
The Center for Dewey Studies:
http://www.siu.edu
Encyclopedia Brittannica web edition:
http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?eu=30675&sctn=1#133784
http://www.christianparents.com/jdewey.htm
http://www.teachers.net/mentors/advocacy/topic15/4.22.00.12.43.57.html
The Dewy Society
http://cuip.uchicago.edu/jds
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/d/dewey.htm/