A review by chasm9
Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey

slow-paced

3.0

John Dewey’s Democracy and Education outlines for us Dewey’s philosophical ideals around what education should be. “Philosophy is thinking what the known demands of us — what responsive attitude it exacts. It is an idea about what is possible, not a record of accomplished fact. Its value lies not in furnishing solutions, but in defining difficulties and suggesting methods for dealing with them” (Dewey, 1916). This quote describes perfectly what Dewey achieves in this work; he is setting out to define issues surrounding education and offer potential solutions, but is not inherently focused on the implementation of these solutions. This work is to think about what education is and what it could be, and perhaps even to inspire change, but not necessarily to create the change itself. 

Dewey writes in a very iterative way, meaning that he is regularly revisiting the same themes throughout his work. His process is typically to offer definitions of terms, include any historical context (typically through separating his perspective from that of his predecessors), and then to expand on his viewpoint. In some instances, Dewey also makes sure to include practical applications for educational practice. Since Dewey writes in a cyclical way, I want to highlight some of the major themes of his work, the first of which is that education is a social process. We learn from one another as we communicate about our experiences. When we can reflect on our experiences and create meaning from them, and then share that meaning with others, that is a form of education. In essence, we learn both from our everyday experiences and formalized education. These two processes of learning are not separate in Dewey’s eyes, but instead formal education seeks to complement and provide structure to what we experience outside of the classroom. Formal education as a “special environment” serves not only the purpose of indexing information and giving us access to experiences outside of our own, but becomes the foundation for developing our own emotional stakes in the success of our society. As he will continue to highlight, these emotional stakes translate into our active participation, which Dewey views as integral for democracy.

Thus, Dewey establishes what he considers to be the democratic ideal of education. In essence, he views this ideal as a combination of shared interest and social interaction (Dewey, 1916). The shared interest is fostering a mindset that prioritizes commonality. For education to fully align with democratic principles, it must actively develop individual capacities while aligning with social goals. This theme of connection is prominent through Democracy and Education, especially through Dewey’s emphasis that the individual and social do not have to be separate. In other words, the pursuit of bettering oneself inherently benefits society, because in Dewey’s view, the individual and social are connected. Additionally, Dewey claims that the worth of a society can be evaluated by its ability to promote these shared interests and interactions with others. How does this connect to Dewey’s conceptualization of education? Well, education fosters personal interest in social relationships (Dewey, 1916). As I stated previously, formalized education is where we begin to develop our own emotional stakes. 

It is also important to note that Dewey views education as a continuous reconstruction of experience. This means that education goes beyond simply acquiring knowledge, but is a process that involves the learner reflecting on their experiences, making sense of them, and allowing these continuous experiences to shape their worldview. This sits in contrast to more traditional education, where his predecessors viewed education as a process of preparation or unfolding (Dewey, 1916). 

Let’s look at these themes in the context of the chapter I was responsible for reading in the second week of discussion, which is entitled “Educational Values.” In this, he highlights how important it is for formalized education to connect to a student's experiences. For example, when learning about chemical reactions, you might have students bring a family cookie recipe, so that they can witness the real-life applications of the abstract concepts they are learning about in school. In this chapter specifically, he highlights how these direct experiences help make learning meaningful and how engaging student’s personal interests helps them make personal connections to material. He also circles back to the idea that education should emphasize connection, both in (a) how the individual is connected to the community, and (b) how different subjects connect to one another. He uses the framework of educational values and aims to craft his point here. There are two types of ways to value something: holding something close or appraising something. When something has value inherently, Dewey labels this intrinsic value; when something only has value in combination or comparison to something else, he labels this instrumental value. In essence, Dewey is advocating for educational spaces to inspire and encourage students to seek out their own meaning and that the role of curriculum and educators specifically is to help make meaningful connections between different subjects. Some of the ways that Dewey claims meaning is made beyond a superficial level, or memorization, is through imagination and the arts. For example, say that you take a group of third graders to an art museum. Dewey would say in this instance that imagination aids children in constructing meaning, since they move beyond simply seeing a blue square and can now see something like the ocean.

Outside of all the philosophical jargon, I think one of the most beautiful pieces of Dewey’s work is his emphasis on the interconnectedness of the individual and the communal. In our world today (I say this as someone who primarily functions in the Western world), everything is separated; the pursuit of our own desires somehow implies that we are forgetting community. However, I think that this work resolidified my belief that these two components are inherently connected, and that as I seek to better myself, I also subsequently benefit my community. A really practical application of this principle for me is the work I am doing in my graduate degree. Instead of placing blame on individuals and making value judgments, I can now clearly see the interplays of socialization in the creation of our belief systems. This also ties beautifully to how important it is for education to not only teach us how to be critical thinkers, but how we have a responsibility to both ourselves and others to be such. As Dewey points out, it is not just simply questioning our beliefs but also questioning the value we assign to things. 

I also will continue to carry and implement the sentiment that education is a process. Education is not simply just about acquiring a piece of knowledge, or being able to pass an exam, but is about integration, connection, and reconstruction. In my practice, I hope for this to translate into embracing the process, which translates into embracing people’s stumbles, questions, failures, successes, and everything else involved in the process of learning.