John Dewey

Who was John dewey?

John Dewey was an education philosopher who reigned in the early 20th century (PBS). He grew up in Vermont and was extremely active in the community ( Williams, 2017). His family was also very pro-democracy. Both of these aspects would help shape Dewey's philosophy.

What was the Philosophy of John Dewey?

From John Dewey himself in his book Democracy in Education, Dewey states that he wishes for students to have more hands-on experience in learning. He wanted students to be active in learning and problem-solving. He believed this because he thought that students who are actively working and trying to find solutions are going to improve their intelligence than those who do not. Dewey was also anti-memorization. Dewey did not believe memorization, like how traditional classrooms operated, was an effective tool for learning. As memorization only forces students to recite words and doesn't teach the student how to solve real-life problems. Dewey also wished that students would gain knowledge of the immediate world around them. As learning about what students see every day is more useful than learning about classic school subjects in Dewey's mind.

What was the Philosophy of John Dewey? #2

Dewey was also obsessed with Democracy in Education (Hence why one of his books is literally called Democracy in education). He believed that democracy was the greatest thing in the west and that American school systems should reflect that. One example of this belief is his belief that teachers should always have a say in how schools are managed (Dewey, 1903). Dewey did not even like the idea of schools having a superintendent. As that is putting only one man in power and is not democratic. Dewey's belief in democracy is also another reason he hated traditional classrooms. Traditional classrooms in the early 1900s only have room for one teacher and do not leave room for students' input (PBS).

Is there any influence of John Dewey still around today?

As per the words Theobald, Dewey may be the most influential philosopher on education to date. But as Morgan K. Williams of the University of West Florida points out in the same paper, seeing Dewey's influence in the classroom today is troublesome. This is because schools have prioritized standardized tests and common core classes. But because Dewey's impact was so large in the early 1900s many other classroom theories that are in effect today still employ some aspects of his philosophy. Some examples of these are Responsive Classroom, Place-Based Education, Philosophy for Children (P4C), and Montessori schools (Montessori schools are actually talked about on Maria Montessori's subpage in chapter 5 of this wikibook). While all of these are different in some way, What unifies them is that they aren't traditional classrooms that focus on standardized testing (Dewey, 1938 as cited in Williams, 2017).

These classroom theories are not the only remnants of Dewey's philosophy. In Dewey's book Democracy in education, Dewey laid out examples of the type of subjects he wished to be taught. These subjects, while not common core classes are still common in American schools today. These classes tend to be ones that offer hands-on experience about the real world. For example, Sewing which can be seen below.

John Dewey gives Sewing as an example of what he preferred in his book Democracy in Education. One reason for this is how sewing classes tend to be hands-on. Students are constantly working with machines and fabric to create an item. Sewing classes are also focused on real-life problems. Everyone owns clothes or some type of fabric. So, learning how to fix them with sewing is an important life skill many students should learn. Students have also shown greater satisfaction with sewing classes compared to the average in part due to implementing some form of Dewey's philosophy ( Kim, S., & Kwon, Y. 2016)

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