JOHN DEWEY
INTRODUCTION. John Dewey is recognized as one of the great figures in educational history. His influence upon American education has been prodigious. The following are the chief events of his life: 1. EARLY YOUTH. John Dewey was born in Burlington, Vermont, October 20,1859. Re was educated in Vermont, graduating in 1879 from the University of Vermont. He taught school in Pennsylvania for two years. An article in the Journal of Speculative Philosophy in April, 1882, entitled "The Metaphysical Assumptions of Materialism" won favorable response. He entered Johns Hopkins University in 1882 as a graduate philosophy student. He emerged two years later as a doctor of philosophy.

 2. TEACHING CAREER. One of Dewey's philosophy professors at Johns Hopkins University was appointed Chairman of Philosophy at the University of Michigan. Upon graduation Dewey was offered a position as Instructor of Philosophy there. Dewey taught at Michigan between 1884 and 1888. He taught for one year at the University of Minnesota. The Chairman of Philosophy died at the University of Michigan. John Dewey returned to Michigan as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Philosophy. In 1894 Dewey moved to the University of Chicago as Professor of Philosophy and Pedagogy. He began a Laboratory School at Chicago for the education of future teachers. This school applied the latest psychological findings, the newest methods and educational theory in the classroom Future teachers could observe and become experienced in applying the best teaching techniques to the pupils of the Laboratory School. Between 1902 and 1904 Dewey was the Director of the School of Education and organizer of the Laboratory School at the University, of Chicago. During this period he was associated with Hull House as well. In 1904 Dewey moved to Columbia University. He remained at Columbia as a professor of philosophy and professor at Teachers' College until his retirement in 1931.

3. RETIREMENT. Dewey was a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy in Residence at Columbia between 1930 and 1939. Although retired, Dewey was continually active in the social affairs of the day. He lectured for two years in China to future teachers. In 1937 he was the chairman of the Commission of Inquiry into the charges against Leon Trotsky brought by the Russian government. Dewey helped establish the New School of Social Research in New York City. He was active in beginning a teachers' union. John Dewey added to his many writings additional works until his death on June 1, 1952, at the age of ninety-two.
 

 THE MAJOR WRITINGS OF JOHN DEWEY. The following list includes many important works written by John Dewey:

 1. MY PEDAGOGIC CREED. New York, E. K. Kellog and Co., 1897.

2. INTERPRETATION OF THE CULTURE-EPOCH THEORY. National Herbart Society Yearbook, 1896.

3. PSYCHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHIC METHOD. Berkeley, University of Cal. Press, 1899.

4. THE SCHOOL AND SOCIETY. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1900 (revised 1915).

5. STUDIES IN LOGICAL THEORY. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1903.

6. LOGICAL CONDITIONS OF A SCIENTIFIC TREATMENT OF MORALITY. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1903.

7. ETHICS. New York, Henry Holt and Co., 1908.

8. THE INFLUENCE OF DARWIN ON PHILOSOPHY AND OTHER ESSAYS IN CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT. New York, Henry Holt and Co., 1910.

9. HOW WE THINK. New York, Heath and Co., 1910.

10. DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION. New York, Macmillan, 1916.

11. ESSAYS IN EXPERIMENTAL LOGIC, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1916.

12. RECONSTRUCTION IN PHILOSOPHY. New York, Holt and Co., 1920.

13. HUMAN NATURE AND CONDUCT. New York, Holt and Co., 1922.

14. EXPERIENCE AND NATURE. Chicago, Open Court, 1925.

15. THE PUBLIC AND ITS PROBLEMS. New York, Holt and Co., 1927.

16. THE QUEST FOR CERTAINTY. New York, Minton, Balch and Co., 1929.

17. PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION. New York, Minton, Balch and Co., 1931.

18. ART AS EXPERIENCE. New York, Minton, Balch and Co., 1934.

19. A COMMON FAITH. Yale Univ. Press, 1934.

20. LIBERALISM AND SOCIAL ACTION. New York, Putnam, 1935.

21. EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION. New York, Macmillan, 1938.

22. FREEDOM AND CULTURE. New York, Putnam, 1939.

23. PROBLEMS OF MEN. New York, Philosophical Library, 1946.

24. LOGIC, THE THEORY OF INQUIRY. New York, Holt and Co., 1938.

 

PHILOSOPHICAL AND EDUCATIONAL THEORY. Some important concepts in the philosophy of John Dewey are the following:
 

2. METHOD OF SCIENCE. The truths of philosophy are not privileged. If the scientist must subject his hypothesis to the careful scrutiny of controlled observations and verification, so must the philosopher. Through inquiry, collecting facts, experimentation and verification will the philosopher provide new truths. The philosophical area of metaphysics is consequently meaningless because the problems do not lend themselves to this kind of scrutiny.

3. DEMOCRACY. The best form of government is democratic government. The cornerstone of Dewey's thought is growth. What contributes to individual and social growth is good. In fact, the value of education exists to the extent it creates a desire for continued growth. A man is good to the extent that he is growing or becoming more good. Now, in a democracy the free interchange between men permits modification, change and growth. It is therefore the best form of government.

 4. THE SCHOOL. problemThe school is a miniature community. It provides for social and individual growth. He rejected the teaching of subjects for their own sake. Any subject is merely a means and not a end in itself. It is the means by which the individual reconstructs his experience, extracts its meaning and thereby prepares himself for the future. Even freedom is itself a means. The only freedom with enduring importance is the intellectual freedom of observation and judgment exercised for an intrinsically worthy end or purpose. Education is a reorganization of experience which adds meaning and ability in the directing of subsequent experience. The subject matter of the school should consist of facts which are observed, remembered, read, discussed and suggested for the purpose of solving some felt problem. Interest and motivation are essential elements in the learning process.

5. THE NATURE OF EXPERIENCE. Activity by itself never constitutes experience. The concept of experience involves the aspects of doing and undergoing. When the individual experiences something, he both acts upon it and enjoys or undergoes the consequences of it. The connection between these active and passive elements in experience is the measure of the experiential value.

6. INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE. Dewey deplored the rigid, passive and unquestioning methods of the traditional schools. Lectures merely provide the individual with information. The pupil must act upon the information through experience prior to the acquisition of knowledge.

7. DISCIPLINE. Discipline is internal and positive. A pupil must be trained to consider his actions so that he will undertake them with deliberation. A pupil is disciplined when he understands what he must do and is moved to undertake the action quickly, using the requisite means necessary. When the pupil possesses the power to endure in an intelligently induced course of action in the face of obstacles, he is disciplined.

8. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. Children must never be treated exactly alike. Each child has needs and experiences which are uniquely his own. The child should be interested in and disciplined toward the development and maintenance of intelligence on an individual basis. Since society changes, the individual pupil must learn how to think in order to cope with a changing environment. When a school achieves this with every child, the school no longer merely perpetuates society. It becomes an essential force in the reconstruction of society.
 

 Return to the Course Outline