Dewey: Society and Democracy

John Dewey: Education, Society, and Democracy

John Dewey is the most influential American philosopher of education of the twentieth century. He took the pragmatist philosophy introduced at the end of the previous chapter and turned it into a working school. The Dewey School at the University of Chicago became the template for progressive education in the United States and abroad. The chapter traces the founder of progressive education through his life, his core philosophical commitments, his account of how education works as a social function, and his picture of the school as an embryonic democratic society.

Who Dewey Was

From Vermont high-school teacher to founder of the progressive education movement, with the Dewey School as his philosophical laboratory

Education as Necessity and Social Function

Why Dewey treats education as the renewal of life, the role of communication, and how the social environment teaches before any school does

Education as Direction

The educator’s job of directing without coercing, the role of stimulus and imitation, and how social control operates from moment to moment

Education as Growth and Development

Why immaturity is the primary condition of growth, the difference between capacity and potential, and habits as expressions of growth

Criticism of Existing Education

Why Dewey rejected education as preparation, education as unfolding, and the older training of faculties model

Education and Democracy

Schools as mini-societies where students grow into citizens, the rejection of the factory model, and Dewey’s response to the loss of moral compass