Experience And Education

Experience And Education
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Experience is Not Enough

Quite the "educative" experience

A 'must' for everybody interested in educational issues

not

Just a correction

Experience And Education
John Dewey
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0684838281

Book Description

Experience and Education is the best concise statement on education ever published by John Dewey, the man acknowledged to be the pre-eminent educational theorist of the twentieth century. Written more than two decades after Democracy and Education (Dewey's most comprehensive statement of his position in educational philosophy), this book demonstrates how Dewey reformulated his ideas as a result of his intervening experience with the progressive schools and in the light of the criticisms his theories had received.

Analyzing both "traditional" and "progressive" education, Dr. Dewey here insists that neither the old nor the new education is adequate and that each is miseducative because neither of them applies the principles of a carefully developed philosophy of experience. Many pages of this volume illustrate Dr. Dewey's ideas for a philosophy of experience and its relation to education. He particularly urges that all teachers and educators looking for a new movement in education should think in terms of the deeped and larger issues of education rather than in terms of some divisive "ism" about education, even such an "ism" as "progressivism." His philosophy, here expressed in its most essential, most readable form, predicates an American educational system that respects all sources of experience, on that offers a true learning situation that is both historical and social, both orderly and dynamic.

Customer Reviews:

Experience is Not Enough .......2006-11-09

Finally somebody who gets it! Unfortunately, as I read John Dewey's Experience & Education I constantly needed to remind myself that Dewey understood what education should be back in the late 1930s, and the "new" education, contemporary or "progressive" as he often referred to it reflects a new-fangled educational system that by today's standards would seem old fashioned. Regardless the times, Dewey's précis is "the rise of what is called new education and progressive schools is in of itself a product of discontent with traditional education". Though he outlines both the wrongdoings and celebrations of both traditional and progressive philosophies of education, Dewey's prescription is for a "sound philosophy of experience...not a name or slogan". The question remains nearly seventy years later, have we yet filled a prescription which lends educators the ability to look beyond the `isms' of educational philosophies and reason in terms of the greater realm of experience?

In 2006 educators are still wading through a sea of ever-changing views of education. According to Dewey, we continue to consent to struggling with new philosophies due to our disgruntlement with policies of the past. The "old" school of education was flawed because teachers were enforcers; experts of education that pushed "autocratic and harsh" arrangements upon students, withholding the undeniable experiences students sought and deserved. Traditional schooling demanded teachers uniformly enforce a "military regime of pupils who were permitted to move only at certain signals" impeding a learner's ability to experience intellectually beyond the surroundings of the habitual desks, blackboard, and meager school yard. Old schools imposed an appalling hypocrisy of memorization of facts and figures, historical dates and such all in preparation of the unknown future, with little regard to the present. Generally in an attempt to keep order, teachers failed to seek the cooperation of students in preparing the purposes of education and learning.

Therefore, in what was likely the backlash of traditionally educated pupils sprouted a generation of new-age educators referred to by Dewey as the progressive-ists. Bearing mind that progressive education realistically commenced at the end of nineteenth century, the wrongdoings of the era I shall now reflect upon, are quite a century old. While progressive education focused on the freedom of the learner, the dismissal of traditional education aroused contemporary difficulties when educators recognized that new education was more difficult than the old. Progressive schools, founded in life-experiences, were rarely well organized as few teachers truly conceptualized the discrepancies in experiences. Moreover, because children were perhaps overly indulged in the participation of learning purposes, school was an amusing fun time in which "visitors (were)...shocked by the lack of manners in students they came across".

As with all educational philosophies that withstand the test of time, the celebrations of such generally outnumber the wrongdoings. Traditional, as well as progressive schools were no exception. Traditional educators were able to keep order in the learning environment in turn providing more teachable time to study the foundations of education, upon which all future learning would take place. In addition, traditionalists valued one of the most important lessons of life: that of "mutual accommodation and adaptation" of others. Surely an adult visitor to a traditional school would be impressed with the periods of "quiet reflection" offered, even for the youngest of pupils. Progressive education was not without its celebrations. Because progressive educators emphasized the freedom of the learner, genuine education came through experience and children were allowed their natural tendencies to socialize and participate in the purposeful planning of the curriculum. New schools even offered the opportunity to study life-skills experiences such as homemaking and mechanics. Yet despite the moving-forward approach of progressivism, "we are told that our schools, old and new, are failing in...the ability to (produce students that) reason".

Experiences are not enough. Dewey reminds us in Chapter 3: Criteria of Education that not all experiences are educative and some are even mis-educative. Everything depends on the quality of the experiences, and that if experience is within and of itself a philosophy of education it requires a plan of what and how such experiences will be implemented. This plan, which Dewey submits as a "Category of Continuity" is responsible for discriminating between the experiences that are meaningful and those that are not. Educational processes must be measurable in terms of good growth, for example providing opportunities for future growth in decent directions. In what is perhaps the finest vignette of Experience & Education Dewey tells of a burglar who gains experience robbing others and as his experiences grow "the burglar may grow into a highly expert burglar" hence not all experiences constitute positive growth. Still within the principle of continuity are the outside sources (i.e. demographics such as income, neighborhood, ethnicity, etc.) and social set-up of the surroundings (equipment, books, materials of learning) that make up the experimental situation. Lastly, teachers must take into account how such experiences are going to enhance his students in the future.

Dewey suggests that educational experiences are vital as some people with little schooling have been given the "precious gift of the ability to learn from the experiences they have (had)", and certainly not all educational experiences occurred in the schoolroom. According to Dewey, good experiences (and bad) are acted upon by a single impulse. I wonder what it might feel like if I put my hand in the fish tank, a student of mine might ponder. Their purpose for choosing to act upon the impulse, which creates the experience, will end with an observation. In this case the student observes the surrounding conditions of the sensation of warm, flowing water, a rapidly moving, exotic, tropical fish, and the final numbness of the fingers when the fish confuses the daring hand with that of his food. The observations my student has just experienced will undoubtedly aid him in future situations. The knowledge of this experience may be enough to prevent future finger-numbing encounters with the tropical chiliad, as their judgment in imminent situations will be the collectivity of previous knowledge and observations.

While we can be aware of consequences through previous experiences, the goal of the educator is in finding material for creating organized learning experiences. The search for high-quality learning experiences could be in of itself a paradox to Dewey's decree that we need to get back to an education that is "pure and simple"; an education that is a reality and "not a name or a slogan". After all, the "sound philosophy of experience" Dewey seeks is in actuality a name and a "slogan" called Experiential Education, which finds its way into the progressive era, in-between the common schools movement and the eras of school reform. Therefore, in answer to my earlier question: Have we yet filled a prescription which lends educators the ability to look beyond the `isms' of educational philosophies and reason in terms of the greater realm of experience? No; because it is the very nature of educators and humans in general to philosophize a new wave of education as a result of our discontent with the current. And these waves of change are good as it defines the very character of learners; those whose experiences constantly alter the way we perceive the world.

Quite the "educative" experience.......2006-05-13

This book is possibly just as important, if not more important now as ever before. Dewey asserts that true learning occurs by experience (labs, experiments, hands-on activities) and not by fact-learning and regurgitation of statements. It is important to note that he also claims that not all experiences are "educative."

As contemporary educational philosophy shifts to more a more standardized curriculum and testing methods (i.e. No Child Left Behind) educators need to review this American philosopher's ideas because the quality of education is becoming more "miseducative." If the current trend of education continues in the same direction I can only assume that Literature classes will also be reduced to multiple-choice tests. One can only assume that Dewey is cursing contemporary education from his grave.

This is a great text for the message and philosophy contained within its pages. It is extremely concise and takes a couple of hours to read. I recommend this to all educators at every level.

Also recommended: "The School and Society & The Child and the Curriculum" by John Dewey.

A 'must' for everybody interested in educational issues.......2006-03-09

Dewey's 'Experience and Education' is a classic text, written by one of greater education expert all over the world and times. Everybody interested in education, social science and its impact nowadays should read this book. Basis of progressive schools, philosophy of education and many of the curriculi changes were outlined in thirties by John Dewey. Easy to read (even for non native english speakers like me), paperback, it is a 'must' for all the people, not only those engaged in educational issues, but also everyone who wants to learn about the recent social and cultural changes of the last century. Great book, amazing reading...!

not.......2006-02-06

The pages are so yellow and the type so jammed that I am not willing to stain enough to read it.

Just a correction.......2005-10-15

For anyone who gives a darn, John Dewey is not responsible for the Dewey Decimal System - that was Melvil Dewey and the two are not, to the best of my knowledge, related, at least not immediately related. Both are notable Americans, however.

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A must read for anyone in the education field
This book was...
A milestone
Democracy and Education
Dewey Dogma

Democracy And Education
John Dewey
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0684836319

Book Description

It is not true there is no common interest in such an organization between governed and governors. The authorities in command must make some appeal to the native activities of the subjects, must call some of their powers into play. Talleyrand said that a government could do everything with bayonets except sit on them. This cynical declaration is at least a recognition that the bond of union is not merely one of coercive force.

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Customer Reviews:

A must read for anyone in the education field.......2007-09-28

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I understand all of the goals Dewey envisioned. He was a brilliant man. I strongly recommend that you read this book first and then read Left Back by Diane Ravitch to learn how and why the progressive movement failed.

This book was..........2006-02-21

Fantastic; a book I would recommend to just about anyone. To address some of the critics mentioned in the other reviews: RE: "Dewey Dogma" (1) There is absolutely no pretense of an application of the scientific method, hence there can be no mis-application; (2) This book strikes me personally as one of the least dogmatic things I've ever read in my life. The ideas are fresh, original, and beautiful crafted and ordered; (3) "Education is Socialization" - an equation of broadly construed "-tions" that results in a statement that one can neither agree nor disagree with.

I could be wrong, but nowhere did I read these ideas as explicit recommendations to be implemented, rather I read this book as a general exploration of educational aims and processes. Dewey (justifiably in my opinion) explores closely connected concepts which I imagine are left out of other educational texts, which is why some with pre-professional backgrounds in education count the length and depth of this book as a negative.

His writing, in my opinion, is clear and concise (at least in comparison with other great philosophers) - writing that I would personally aspire to. His ideas, and I can't say this enough, are some of the most original I've come across. We didn't really cover the pragmatists in any of my philosophy classes. Reading this makes me wish we had.

A milestone.......2004-04-06

This book is one of the great milestones of American history and philosophy and particularly education. It's as relevant today as the day it was written a century ago.

Democracy and Education.......2000-06-30

A must for any serious student of education and philosophy

Dewey Dogma.......2000-05-15

A great book for proposing social engineering in education but otherwise nothing new except mis-application of the scientific method to non-science areas. His concept of education is socialization. If there is something great is his theories it is well hidden and not supported by scientific or non scientific studies..

Beyond Alternative Teacher Education: Integrating Teaching, Community, Spirituality and Leadership

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Beyond Alternative Teacher Education: Integrating Teaching, Community, Spirituality and Leadership

Manufacturer: Alliance for Catholic Education Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Reluctant Disciplinarian: Advice on Classroom Management From a Softy who Became (Eventually) a Successful Teacher

ASIN: 0978879309

Book Description

In Beyond Alternative Teacher Education, John Watzke and his fellow contributors present a bold vision for teacher education that moves the dialogue into new realms of inquiry. Pairing teacher reflective narratives with scholarly chapters, the volume presents the case for programs of teacher formation based in the communal, social and spiritual dimensions of teaching and educational leadership. Beginning with historical tradition and program design, the book also speaks to the importance of the work of program graduates, their professional preparedness, and leadership development. Beyond Alternative Teacher Education will challenge readers to reexamine their notions of what it means to be prepared for work in education and to serve society through education.

The School and Society & The Child and the Curriculum

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Another Dewey classic - wait, two classics in one!
Ivory tower crackpot theories.
What to teach
Why going to school ?

The School and Society & The Child and the Curriculum
John Dewey
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Experience And Education
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ASIN: 0486419541

Book Description

These two short, influential books represent the earliest authoritative statement of Dewey's revolutionary emphasis on education as an experimental, child-centered process. He declares that we must make schools an embryonic community life and stresses the importance of the curriculum as a means of determining the environment of the child. 4 halftones and 4 charts.

Customer Reviews:

Another Dewey classic - wait, two classics in one!.......2006-05-13

This great book contains two Dewey classics: (1) The School and Society; and, (2) The Child and the Curriculum. This text is like most Dewey works: concise and to the point. This text focuses on the effects and the power that teachers should have in affecting student lives. There is much discussion on Dewey's classic "educative" experiences and how education should be hands-on learning. Dewey also asserts that curriculum should emulate real life challenges and "occupations" of everyday life. Learning occurs in doing and not in repeating facts and figures on multiple-choice tests.

We wonder why the greatest young minds are thrown into math and science courses instead of being encouraged to explore the arts and music. This book continues to show why coursework should not be limited to multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and other methods of factoid memorization but rather coursework should include the exploration of skill-sets and also how the curriculum should provide a catalyst for knowledge and skill exploration.

Like most Dewey books, this should be required reading for all education programs and for all educators. Considered by many to be the only true American philosopher, Dewey once again provides a clear look at why education in America is sub-par in quality and effectiveness.

Also recommended: "Experience and Education," by John Dewey.

Ivory tower crackpot theories........2005-10-21

No intellectual can afford to be unacquainted with the immortal John Dewey and his "experimental school." Who would dare impute the legendary researcher permanently linked with the doctrine of the irreproachable "progressivism?" Somebody has to. It has to be I.

Dewey's conception of the child as learner assumes that the green mind most effectively comes to knowledge by directing its own education through spontaneous curiosity stemming from nature study. This he then expects will blossom into a more expanded consideration of the various academic subjects. The role of the teacher lies mostly in facilitating transitions and answering the child's self-posed questions along the way. The problems in Dewey's model begin with his science fair-meets-museum-meets-playground-meets-lecture hall school design: the model is untested on any significant scale and the startup plus upkeep costs are prohibitively expensive. Classes are small and require several specialists and non-reusable materials. As if kids didn't have enough problems with basic skills and content already, Dewey would have them heavily involved in shop and home economics. Even more outrageous in Dewey's model is the premise that we ought not force students to study what they do not like. Their own intellectual prejudices reign supreme and by implication, teachers are discouraged from evaluating against solid standards. Experienced teachers know that kids can easily hide their shortcomings even when required to study their weak subjects, and that remediation is hard to implement before they slip further behind. Dewey's recommendation to cater so exclusively to the child's intrinsic likes is at best a risky gamble which exacerbates low performance in students too immature to understand the value of education. It's no small wonder why the public's perception of teacher authority has dropped even in good districts with approaches like this floating around schools of education administration.

"The School and Society," like many other off-the-wall manifestos of educational theory, denies well-understood behavioral science when it glosses over psychological patterns in man. It depicts formulaic teaching and learning as fundamentally faulty and generalized curricula as harmful to student individuality. Nothing could less representative of quality research conducted, particularly Project Follow Through: the great skeleton in the student-centered advocates' closet. I for one would like to see Dewey's updated plan for seamlessly moving kids who come into class with their "natural inquisitiveness" programmed by TV, rap music, and other mass media, into colonial American history, calculations of hyperbolic asymptotes, Tennessee Williams, and the "plus-que-parfait" tense. But of course, such leaps of interest are unnecessary if we utterly throw out the "old-fashioned" academic corpus along with the old-fashioned school system.

90% of students in high schools today report that they do NOT feel adequately challenged. Maybe the answer doesn't lie in yielding to children's lack of intellectual discipline but in tapping their potential to control that uninformed caprice. "The School and Society" relies upon the circular contradiction of allowing an uneducated mind educate the teacher on its own education. The apparent absurdity of it all leads me to conclude that sane people latch onto its ideals to maintain an escapist fantasy in light of dismally high drop-out rates, lowered standards, and social discord. But a radical solution is not necessarily synonymous with a good one.

What to teach.......2002-12-13

Dewey, a profound contributor to the field of education, displays some of his beliefs of the best methods to teach children in The Child and the Curriculum. To begin Dewey's discussion, the child's world is examined. In this examining, a sense of how the child's world operates is formed. Children learn through the process of experiencing things, life. In this book Dewey, finds that the schools in which children are educated contradict their very learning style by nature. "The child's life is an integral, a total one," (p.183, 1902). The way the school disseminates the curriculum is not the most optimal method for students to learn.
A child's life collects all the experiences, thus the child learns. Dewey postulates a change in the formula for teaching children, the curriculum. Why change the curriculum? As Dewey states, children need to be intertwined in the process of doing. Children will learn by doing, making clothes to wear, furniture to sit on, and growing food to eat. The idea of the separate subject area is a key area Dewey analyzes because of how children learn. When a child wants to build a chair to sit on, they examine disciplines across the realm of mathematics, science, and language skills while building the chair. Instead of separating this activity into different disciplines, it is woven throughout the activity. Throughout this book, it is stated that their needs to be a link to what the child is learning and what the child sees as a benefit to themselves.
As an educator, it is important to be exposed to varying ideas as to how the school systems have functioned and are functioning today. There are ideas in this book that a pre-service or current educator should consider during their teaching career. Are Dewey's ideas relevant for today's society? I believe this is a question one has to answer for themselves, construct your own meaning.

Why going to school ?.......2000-09-14

From a high school student's point of view, reading Dewey couldn't provide something else than hope for educational systems, most of which, despite the efforts of making a school a more living atmosphere, organizations still remain too mechanical in learning procedures and detached from social applications regarding the capabilities they serve.

Originally from Cameroon, I've had the opportunity to explore three educational systems from different cultural influence each. It was an advantage that surely opened my mind to different perspectives by interacting with different cultures in different social contexts, but especially carried me out to realize how the so called "education" - in general, but in high school in particular - shortly addresses fundamental needs as much individually as socialy, since people tend to ignore its essential functions or misunderstand the concepts it involves, precisely because their implications are so general that they shouldn't be analyzed in separated contexts, school and society, as far as they are, with respect, one a component of the other but the other being the expression of the first one in a long term.

By observing both components as a whole, Dewey proposes a model that doesn't necessarily apply to actual issues or give factual solutions, but at least redefines "education" by integrating inherent aspects to human nature in its double acception - as a group as much as an individual -, which reveals the values traditional education still mostly hides.

I delibarately took the initiative of question what high school didn't explained to me, and probably often forget to ask itself. In what ways education serves people in the aim of blooming personally and socially ? which role schools are therefore supposed to play and in which patterns ? The questions are so simple that the answers appear obvious. In fact, they should be when the problematic is carefully put. this is the reason most people can get it wrong and sometimes don't even try to question what is already established. Dewey was an excellent starting point for my research and I recommend it to EVERYONE, not especially those concerned with education because it shouldn't be a matter of a restricted segment of people. Education is everywhere. Sorry for my english :)

Getting It Wrong from the Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget
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Beyond the obviously true

Getting it Right in Hindsight.

Getting it wrong form the beginning

Getting It Wrong from the Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget
Kieran Egan
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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An Imaginative Approach to Teaching

Teaching as Story Telling: An Alternative Approach to Teaching and Curriculum in the Elementary School

ASIN: 030010510X

Book Description

The ideas upon which public education was founded in the last half of the nineteenth century were wrong. And despite their continued dominance in educational thinking for a century and a half, these ideas are no more right today. So argues one of the most original and highly regarded educational theorists of our time in Getting It Wrong from the Beginning. Kieran Egan explains how we have come to take mistaken concepts about education for granted and why this dooms our attempts at educational reform.

Egan traces the nineteenth-century sources of Progressive thinking about education and their persistence even now. He diagnoses the problem with our schools in a radically different way, and likewise prescribes novel alternatives to present educational practice. His book is both persuasive and full of promise—a book that belongs on the must-read list for anyone who cares about the success of our schools.

Customer Reviews:

Beyond the obviously true.......2007-06-21

Can't agree with the reviewer below about the dry hard-going style of the book - in fact it must be one of the most engaging academic works I've read. Took me less than a day, which is highly unusual, since too often I have hard times maintaining a critical level of concentration just to stay awake reading (dead-) "serious literature". But it doesn't have to be like that - not with reading (yes, even academic, mind you) books, nor with listening to educators, the latter being more to the point of the book. I just found it not a trivial matter that when someone is writing about the flaws of both "traditional" and "progressivist" education which thwart their attempts to engage children's minds and imagination - then he himself be able to avoid the same mistakes he critisizes. And Egan goes far beyond this. He's a great story-teller, and he has a great story to tell - about the "permanent revolution" in education that has been going on forever, but succeeded very little, and the likely reasons for this. Of course education - it's like the youth - has been spoilt since Plato, if not the upper Neolithicum. So beware - you might not be the first one to seek a cure, and you definitely wouldn't be an exception if the cure you devised - (back to the) more natural types of learning! just let the child follow her natural course of delevopment and be a support! just take off from where the child is currently situated in terms of "stages"! just let her learn how to learn (think)... any number of cliches you can come up with - would turn in results more drasically defective than the problems you began with. The point Egan makes is that these proposed progressivist solutions that he so engagingly follows from Spencer through Dewey and Piaget (for the latter two of whom I have great respect for, by the way, if a little less enthusiastic after reading this book.) to our days - are too obvious on the one hand, almost truistic, and beg the question whether what is (under a certain set of socio-cultural condiotions) "natural" to one is "natural" to another, who's the biggest expert in these questions, and no less - what is the kind of life that is most worth leading. All education comes back to these questions - how do we devise being human, and thus its becoming through education. Studies in cognitive psychology and neuroscience of learning etc. are of modest help if we're not philosophically positioned in what is unavoidably a philosophical problem. So Egan doesn't try to strike us with his "latest research findings" as to the deepseated nature of children's thinking at this or that stage and respective cognitive capacities (constraints), which have often had the appalling tendency to overlook what children CAN do (perhaps much better than adults!) in favor of what they can't (a la Piaget, a too unilinear progress that doesn't admit the losses that occur along the developmental path) anyway - but envisages his own "merely subjective and speculative" (or "not merely objective", it might be more appropriate to say in educational theory) approach to teaching as story-telling. A form of education that would incorporate motives that are quite universally "attractive" (not to say "natural" :) and important to people, make creative and intelligent use of structures present in myths and fairy-tales that that seldom fail to capture the listener. (The author himself definitely knows how to do it.)

I think with this move Egan really brings us closer to the center of problems facing us when trying to understand and improve the situation of our current educational practices. A vastly important and very accessible work.

Getting it Right in Hindsight. .......2005-02-21

This is an outstanding title for a book and I could not wait for it to arrive in the mail. The author proves to be quite witty and authoritative regarding the history of education and the way in which it has been influenced, and in turn dominated, by the progressives. His recapitulation of the career of the Herbert Spencer was quite insightful but no where is Egan stronger than in the chapter that discusses the impact that progressivism has had on the study of history and all other forms of knowledge that are not directly useful to the real world (such as Latin).

Many of his observations about progressive education are worth highlighting, but the reason I could not give "Getting it Wrong from the Beginning" a higher rating is that I did not find the book to be particularly readable. It is a dry slog that takes longer than one would expect based on its less than 200 pages. Had he included more examples from our modern public schools I would have found it more useful as a reference work. Egan's put considerable thought into his positions though so the book is definitely worth a serious skim.

Getting it wrong form the beginning.......2003-08-21

It has been a long time since I read a book that both frustrated me and at the same time challenged the most fundamental "truths" that I have been taught about education. It is easy to both love some of the insights in this book and then be left lost trying to understand the alternative. I think I would of gained a better understanding of Egan's insights if I had read the predecessor The Educated Mind. One of Egan's main arguments is that the progressive school and its theories have resulted in "the reduction of academic content in primary schools in the 20th century". All the emphasis on making learning "natural" and "play-like" has cheated American students out of acquiring "cultural-cognitive tools" which should be the basis of all education. He challenges many of the long held beliefs of education and if anything I would recommend this book as a way of reconsidering the psychological pillars of education that all new teachers are trained in.

Dewey's Dream: Universities and Democracies in an Age of Education Reform

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Dewey's Dream

Dewey's Dream: Universities and Democracies in an Age of Education Reform
John L. Puckett , Ira Harkavy , and Lee Benson
Manufacturer: Temple University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Philosophy as Cultural Politics: Philosophical Papers, Vol.4

ASIN: 1592135927

Book Description

This timely, persuasive, and hopeful book reexamines John Dewey's idea of schools, specifically community schools, as the best places to grow a democratic society that is based on racial, social, and economic justice. The authors assert that American colleges and universities bear a responsibility for-and would benefit substantially from-working with schools to develop democratic schools and communities.

Customer Reviews:

Dewey's Dream.......2007-05-14

Since the Post-World War II period, each decade has been marked by a book or two that shapes the discourse in higher education, not only in this country but across the globe. Benson, Harkavy and Puckett have captured a particular moment with this timely assessment of the essential democratic role of the modern university in an era of growing neo-liberalism, the commodification of knowledge, and the rise of the entrepreneural institutions across the world. The authors -- all noted historians with a commitment to public education -- have challenged the university and its supporters to re-claim their rightful catalytic and responsible function in building democratic societies, reforming the place and focus of higher education, and establishing a new spirit of civic responsibility through research, teaching and service towards community engagement. This is a powerful argument for how universities ought to more strategically impact society, local communities, and public education through the creative and productive application of the academic talent and assets each institution possesses. It is a inspiring and descriptive testament to what universities can do for society, for schools and to clearly demonstrate a deeper practice of democratic citizenship. I highly recommend this work for anyone who wants a renewed sense of hope and vision for our universities.

Michael Malahy Morris
Research Professor and Director
Community Learning & Public Service
University of New Mexico
Fulbright New Century Scholar 2007-2008

The Dialectic of Freedom (John Dewey Series)

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Dialectic of Freedom
Inane ramblings
Oh the Agony!
Long winded and profoundly unfocused.
The best book that I have read for a class.

The Dialectic of Freedom (John Dewey Series)
Maxine Greene
Manufacturer: Teachers College Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0807728977

Customer Reviews:

Dialectic of Freedom.......2005-09-07

This book arrived in only a few days. Even though it is a used book, it is in very good condition.

Inane ramblings.......2004-09-22

Greene just can't seem to get to the point. Any point. But she does take a long time not getting there. More than any author I have encountered, Greene seems to think that one should never use one or two words when a dozen or two will do the same job. I spent more time rereading Greene's sentences than any other book I can remember with little to show for it. Apparently, Greene feels that filling her book with long rambling quotes, endless lists of examples, arcane terminology, unnecessary adjectives, and run on sentences gives it some gravitas. While it does make it difficult to understand, that doesn't mean that the underlying ideas are deep, just that they are obscured by poor writing.

Oh the Agony!.......2002-02-27

She has valid things to say, but seems more intent on demonstrating her intellegence with grammatical gymnastics. I have to read this for class, and it has been an excruciating experience. Very disorganized thought, poorly edited.

Long winded and profoundly unfocused........1999-06-03

After reading and then re-reading this book, I am impressed only by Ms. Greenes ability to ramble on for 134 pages without making a point.

The best book that I have read for a class........1998-07-13

This book is easily the best and most important book that I have read since I started going to graduate school in 1996. It has truly changed my way of seeing certain things. Dr. Green's vision of freedom is presented by examples from books and other media, and makes the subject both understandable and affecting. If a teacher were to follow her vision and her suggestions, his or her classroom would be the most dynamic one in almost any school. If one is a teacher, or if one merely likes good writing, get this book. It is truly visionary.

Dewey and European Education: General Problems and Case Studies

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Dewey and European Education: General Problems and Case Studies

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0792363892

Book Description

Although John Dewey's ideas have been of central interest in Anglo-Saxon philosophy and history of education, it is only recently that similar interest has developed in continental Europe.
Deweyan philosophy of education has had to pass through national filters, which meant that it was received in national contexts of reform. The `German Dewey' was differently construed to the French, Italian, or English Dewey. This seems to change after 1989 (and the fall of socialist education) when interest in Dewey increased. The new political and philosophical interest in Dewey has to do with the lost alternative `socialism', and thus with the opening of Eastern Europe and the new problems of education within a worldwide community.
This volume stresses two points. The original interest of European education in Dewey will be presented in case studies, concerning different national contexts and thus different Dewey's. What can be called the renewal of interest will be argued from different sides. It is our intention to show that today's interest in Dewey is not the remake of the reception within the different camps of progressive education.
This volume will be of interest to philosophers of education, historians of education, and people engaged in the philosophy, history and the reception of Dewey.

John Dewey And Our Educational Prospect: A Critical Engagement With Dewey's Democracy And Education

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John Dewey And Our Educational Prospect: A Critical Engagement With Dewey's Democracy And Education

Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0791469220

Book Description

The first book-length study of Dewey's extraordinary text.

The Essential Dewey, Volume 1: Pragmatism, Education, Democracy

Average customer rating:

Good introduction to Dewey

The Essential Dewey, Volume 1: Pragmatism, Education, Democracy
Thomas M. Alexander , and John Dewey
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0253211840

Customer Reviews:

Good introduction to Dewey.......2007-07-29

I believe that John Dewey was one of the most important philosophers in history, bar none. But he is not easy to read, in part because of the subtlety of his thinking, in part because of his prose style, which can be ponderous and convoluted. My first encounter with him was in "Pragmatism: A Reader" by Louis Menard (Pragmatism: A Reader), and I was not thrilled. For some reason, I decided to try Vol. 1 of this anthology, and my opinion was totally turned around. This book is an excellent introduction to Dewey's thinking. The articles are well-selected, presenting a lot of breadth, and substantial depth in such a way that you are led somewhat gently into difficult subject matter, and not bowled over by unfamiliar concepts. Of course, like most anthologies, at some point it leaves you wanting to go deeper. I bought both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, but someplace early in Vol. 2 decided to switch to "Experience and Nature" (Experience and Nature), and am glad I did. I will probably go back to Vol. 2, though. The BREADTH of Dewey's thought was also phenomenal, and only a good anthology (or a lifetime of study) can give one a feel for that.

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