But Dewey stressed that, “We do not learn from experience. There was value in enabling students to explore new worlds rather than being limited to the well-trodden path.Įxperience was important to discovery, to exploring those new worlds. Like the Enlightenment thinkers that Dewey often cited, he focused on the development of the mind and the capacity for thought. He refuses artificial distinctions or conflicts between the individual and the collective, between activity and education, between different subject matters, and between “mental” and “manual” study and work. It is about democracy, but in a broad sense about the ethics of democracy and about developing systems of education that prepare young people to live, reflect, analyse, discuss, learn and to continue learning.ĭewey stresses that education is both formal and informal and that it is one part of a larger environment. I will not fall into that trap, but rather, offer a few reflections based on some of the ideas contained in that important book. It has been interpreted, re-interpreted and, according to Dewey, misinterpreted many times. The American philosopher, educator, and long-time member of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) John Dewey (1959-1952) wrote “ Democracy and Education: A Philosophy of Education” a century ago.
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