Running head: DEWEY’S PHILOSOPHY AND MODERN EDUCATION 1

How Dewey’s Philosophy has impacted Modern Education

Kim L. Pyant

EDUC 703

Liberty University

2019
DEWEY’S PHILOSOPHY AND MODERN EDUCATION 2

Abstract

The rationally of this paper was to examine the relevance of John Dewey’s

education philosophy into the contemporary education system. Various sources were

synthesized in order to assess the influence of Dewey as well as some of the theories that

other educators came up with after analyzing the work of Dewey. The historical

background of Dewey is given in the paper, which reveals that social and political

activities in Vermont (the area he was brought up) influenced him to come up with the

education philosophy of progressivism. Therefore, progressivism is discussed in this

paper under the segment of philosophy of education. The paper will then focus on

Dewey’s theory in practice through the introduction of the education system. Hence,

Dewy focuses on progressive education through learning by doing instead of traditional

teachings. Additionally, the perception of Dewey will be described in the perspective of

diversity to understand the idea of segregation and emphasis put forth to reduce racial and

discrimination that brought inequality in education. Critically Dewey pragmatist

philosophy shows the necessity to allow social-learning and student-based classrooms

with the use of inquiry and values. Finally, the paper will conclude progressivism in

education and emphasis on the rationale of focusing on the child rather than content in

the classroom.

Key Words: Dewey’s Philosophy, Progressivism, Dewey’s Theory, Diversity,

Discrimination, Social Learning

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How Dewey’s Education Philosophy has impacted Modern Education

Education is a perfect thing that has ever happened in the entire human

civilization. It is because of education that individuals acquire the knowledge of the

world around them. Moreover, people can improve situations based on the knowledge

they acquire through education. On that note, in order to understand how the concept of

education has evolved to help human beings improve the universe, philosophers such as

John Dewey must be studied. It is through John Dewey, the American philosopher, and

educator that people can comprehend the philosophical school of thought as well as

pragmatism. Therefore, the rationale of this paper is to examine the cultural context of

Dewey, synthesize his beliefs and actions as well as provide some critiques to his work its

impact on modern education.

Background and Cultural Context

Born in 1859 in Vermont, Dewey’s philosophy of education was heavily

influenced by the cultural environment that he found himself in. For example, he was

brought up in a family that believed in the democratic vision besides being actively

engaged in the social community of Vermont. Virtually, philosophers are influenced by

their surroundings when it comes to producing ideas for a particular field. In connection

to that, the social and political activities in Vermont influence Dewey to be an educator

and a philosopher. The study shows that Dewey believed that problems of society could

be solved when people come together peacefully to discussion and debate solutions for

issues of a community (Gutek, 2014, p. 78). He did not support the idea that an individual
DEWEY’S PHILOSOPHY AND MODERN EDUCATION 4

single-handily can solve problems of society. Ideally, people are limited when it comes to

solving social issues individually.

Additionally, he also believed in democracy as a tool that can be used to bring

people together when addressing issues in society. With respect to believing in

community and democracy, Dewey was, therefore, motivated to develop social and

educational philosophies. Today John is known to be one of the most influential

education philosophers to have lived in the 20th century. His contribution to the field of

education continues to be felt even today. The education of the 21st century borrows a lot

from the philosophies and concepts of Dewey (Gordon, 2016). Furthermore, his

philosophical perspective in education has made most scholars recognize him as the

progressivist, pragmatist, and social reformer. Part of the reason he is heavily credited is

that his education concepts are bear more fruits when compared to education concepts of

other philosophers.

According to Gordon (2016), Dewey believed that the moral development of an

individual could only be influenced by education. Indeed, there are high chances to find

an educated society conducting itself in acceptable conduct as opposed to an illiterate

community. The moral fabric of society is strengthened by education. Dewey’s concepts

and philosophy of education are have influenced a lot of educators who eventually have

developed their own education hypothesis that differs significantly from that of Dewey.

Some of the learning theories that borrow some concepts of Dewey include a learner-

centered approach, progressive education, and experiential knowledge. With this in

DEWEY’S PHILOSOPHY AND MODERN EDUCATION 5

mind, some scholars may argue that such methods are modern and improved; they are

nearly unable to parallel the influence of Dewey’s education philosophy.

Dewey’s Education Philosophy

Dewey's educational philosophy was developed in response to the shortcomings

of traditional education, which has elements such as adult standards as well as

methodologies. Dewey postulated that the scope of conventional education was beyond

the comprehension of young leaners. He believed that progressive education is

appropriate for young learners because of the components that allow children to engage

in social interactions, besides enabling them to develop cognitively. Dewey was for the

thought that the best education is which would allow for the children to interact socially

and that schools should be regarded as just social institutions. According to Dewey,

learning should be considered as a process of living and not as a procedure for preparing

learners for the future. Ostensibly, Dewey is right because many education systems of the

world are designed in such a way that learners can only expect future outcomes.

Given this, the education system that prepares students to only hope for the future

is not sufficient for various reasons. The first reason is that the process of learning is

boring and tedious for the majority of students. Immediate rewards mainly activate the

mind of an individual after completion of a task or concept. The majority of students may

feel overwhelmed to wait for education outcomes after more than a decade of being in

school. Contrary to the traditional system of education where students have to wait for

outcomes for an extended period, Dewey’s progressive education allows the student to
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experience benefits within a concise period. The other disadvantage of traditional

education is that learners rarely interact socially because it is based on planned lessons.

As a result of the view that progressive education should be a process of living,

Dewey is set apart from the proponents of tradition classroom settings. Dewey believed

that classrooms should be part of the elements of real-life situations as opposed to

limiting children on various aspects of social interactions. Schools and classes should be

designed in such a way that children are able to participate in learning activities flexibly.

Dewey was against the idea of introducing too much academic content because it tends to

interfere with the ability of children to interact socially. Virtually, educational content

deviates from the context of children’s social lives. The notion of Dewey’s is not in line

with modern education from various perspectives. For example, the application of

Common Core Standards characterizes the contemporary education system. The focus of

using common core standards has made the philosophy of Dewey to appear archaic.

However, there is some modern education hypothesis that endeavors to apply the

educational philosophy of Dewey in practice. One of such theories that support the work

of Dewey includes Learner-centered theory. Through these hypotheses, people can see

some beliefs Dewey being put into practice. The learner-centered method backs the idea

of Dewey, whereby children are taught to solve social problems collectively. The theory

also believes that the student also gets to participate in some elements of the decision-

making process. Instead of the teacher dictating exclusively on how students should,

learners also get an opportunity to express their views regarding the scope of learning.
DEWEY’S PHILOSOPHY AND MODERN EDUCATION 7

Children are viewed as individuals that encompass the whole setting of a classroom

system.

In such a setting, the student can form their knowledge through individual

meanings as opposed to having the teacher impose everything on them. Students,

according to the beliefs of Dewey, are allowed to participate effectively in the learning

process and the school system. The education philosophy of Dewey, as well as the

learner-centered theory, has the interests of students taken into consideration when

coming up with instructions and lesson plans. Although the education philosophy of

Dewey seems to have been falling out of favor regarding the policies of modern

education, several elements of the philosophy ought to be considered to a more

significant extent.

Part of the reason why Dewey’s education philosophy is essential is that it

enhances the overall learning experience. The model puts more emphasis on students

rather than content in the educational process. The education system of Dewey stresses

more on the operation of education rather than the future outcomes of learning.

Moreover, based on the model, the teacher is not the central figure, like in the traditional

method of knowledge; instead, the educator acts as a guide to the students.

Theory to Practice

The progressivism in the education philosophy coined by Dewey considers a

more child development rather than content. Dewey argues that for education to be

appropriate, the children should be allowed to learn from the experience gained earlier in

life. Similarly, the perception is more effective when children engage in their surrounding
DEWEY’S PHILOSOPHY AND MODERN EDUCATION 8

environments. In this motive, problem-based learning, along with inquiry learning,

emerged as an educational philosophy of education progressivism from tradition one. Lee

and Brown (2018) research found that inquiry assisted pupils in acknowledging the way

to make sound and helpful decisions through the significance of relation existing between

values and science. Hence, inclusion in the classroom molded child ideas paying attention

to Dewey's philosophy, additionally, Gutek (2011) in understanding the education issue

defined curriculum developed through experimental philosophy in that it requires a

democratic environment oriented on what Dewey incorporated as student-centered

learning.

Dewey promoted progressive education and rejected the traditionalism in school.

Lee and Brown (2018) stated that within the science classroom curriculum, it has to use

inquiry-based learning accompanied by practical’s to add values that help the student to

reason critically by observing the results from the practice. Dewey had an opportunity to

test his theory through the Chicago Laboratory School. Regardless of the uneventful

approach, Knoll (2015) indicated that the Laboratory School was innovative and

experimental. In this way, the schools were distinguished as progressive education

pioneer movements. The scientific school served as an exhibition, testing and verifying

the critical theoretical statements as well as principles within the classroom context that

included actual students. Hence, the data collected within a particular setting was utilized

as extra information to add knowledge of education as a way of serving the school's

second purpose.
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Moreover, Dewey was well understood as the father of progressive education and

social learning advocate (Slaughter 2009). Through the achievement of promoting and

movement in education philosophy in observing more on the environment, and aiding

tools in education, his legacy of ideas and philosophies are still used in contemporary

society today. The current curriculum is promoting progressiveness in school as students

engage in the classroom due to an increase in the use of technology. The world is

becoming connected, and technology is driving the social lives of students and is utilized

effectively for promoting the engagement of students and teachers. In this way, teachers

have the responsibility of providing the student with new instruction relevant, effective as

well as engaging the student socially (Stillwaggon, 2014). Through the acquisition or

establishing a platform of online learning, cellphones, and computers to access the

internet, the teacher can engage with the student through texting, email class notes and

assignments, chat rooms, and WhatsApp groups. Hence, the teachers choose the

appropriate and comfortable methods to reach the students to most disperse information

and academic content. Thus, through designing the instruction through education-based

student-centered learning, the teacher helps to meet the social and educational needs of

the students. Therefore, it can be done through the use of appropriate technology, as

Dewey's social learning suggests.

Perspectives on Diversity

The diversity of Dewey philosophies in education is place-based education.

Vaughan (2018) indicated that the potential industrialization influence, immigration along

with urbanization was a progressive movement. Dewey, as an influential force of

DEWEY’S PHILOSOPHY AND MODERN EDUCATION

10
progressive movement, was faced by the integration of all-inclusive students within a

given education system. The reason was due to the increased diversity of the students

who were attending the school and from a different culture. Hence, it was necessary and

significant for teachers to form goals of using environmental education for the

professional establishment to improve schools. Thus, Dewey emphasized using resources,

issues in the local communities, as the basis of the classroom first since utilizing these

resources becomes the basis of learning to set (Popp, 2015). The place-based education

then improves the sustainability, projects, and community learning through being

engaged in an environment the student has experienced.

Most of the moderate progressivisms have been supporting accommodation

education, emphasis on vocational training, manual force, the building of character, and

even social science curriculum. In addition, if the views of Dewey on race, racism along

the education were changing in his lifetime, he founded the NAACP that offered support

to terminate or end injustice and discrimination. In addition, Dewey believed in art as it

could assist people in overcoming fear along with the conflict of cultural difference, and

used a school curriculum that was to accomplish the social inequalities. According to

Vaughan (2018) report, claimed that Dewey silenced the segregation practices in the mid-

20th century when he proclaimed and went against segregation of students from African-

American culture. Thus, the equality and equal resource distribution and segregated in

schools due to race affected the diversity and multicultural education.

Moreover, when focusing on the previous experience in society, Gordon (2016)

described Dewey as a person articulating individual freedom and developed an extensive

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11
interaction and engagement of communities towards social learning. Dewey's motive of

social learning was forced on American democracy to offer the ordinary person the

opportunity to perform movement and debate ideas necessary and helpful in improving

society. The latter was to provide teachers’ pedagogy to promote equity in classroom and

promote social learning to remove or terminate stereotypic ideas children gains from the

community (Tarrant & Thiele, 2016). Despite Dewey's motive of not using education as

an accomplishment of political agendas, he advocated classroom students needed to learn

and think rationally and ensure they have reliable and informed judgment.

Critical Analysis

According to Gutek (2011)he gave the impression that Thomas Jefferson was

influential during the American Revolution. The central aspect here is that the Jefferson

movement proposed a cultural nationalism that should emphasize civic participation,

change the curriculum to focus on scientific knowledge along with the instruction to have

a distinctive American culture. Hence, the philosophy of education has been long urging

for the establishment of a school system that is more oriented on knowledge rather than

content due to changing the way of life. The desire of Dewey was for reforms in the

existing school system to fit the student’s interests and needs (Wu, 2017). While

education is viewed as a means to enhance and instill knowledge, it is intellectual to give

a position for student’s responsibility. Dewey saw school as an institution that is aimed to

teach scientific methods by the use of inquiry to help the student learn the way to make

the best and more informed decisions.

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Dewey criticized the epistemology of the modern philosophy stating that it takes

for granted dualism. The rational of dualistic assumptions, as well as empiricism, are

considered as a medium of knowledge. Hence, Dewey pointed out that knowledge should

be treated as a possession as a way of representing the individual's mind in thinking

independently and making their own informed decision and choices. In this way, Dewey

termed dualism as a spectator of the theory of Knowledge, which manipulated the mind

to be a mirror of reality and translate the information to a mental image. According to

Dewey's philosophy in education, the concept of consciousness is isolated purely through

social medium to help the student grow intelligently; acquire meaning and values through

social interaction and engagement.

Dewey’s education philosophy, according to Vaughan (2018), has been integrated

into schools through an on-hand approach that endorses the use of character building,

project-oriented, and industrial training. Hence, Dewey envisioned a democratic, but the

issue of race and education is still an issue in society. Even if most of his work was

coined before consideration of the race, community along with economic impact,

Dewey’s ideas of democracy are still influencing today’s leaders. The perspective of

Dewey on racial equality was different from Moreland (2007) in the way knowledge is

defined by society's beliefs at a given time. Hence, Dewey's perspective of education

democracy was to ensure the student has benefited from it by producing a better decision

and informed skills that would help the community.

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Implications and Conclusions

Eventually, from the time public schools were developed, the pedagogy of

teachers implicates its stagnant position to improve student-based education. Dewey

shared a philosophy that still influences changes in instruction techniques, best student

teaching approaches and student-centered methods. The progressive ideas in the Dewey

movement in moving from traditional to liberal education was a perfect gesture to

improve equality and reduce segregation due to race in schooling through a radical

element. In addition, the scientific inquiry and values in the classroom are helpful in the

contemporary modern classroom setting to foster decision-making and the ability of the

student to use local community resources and experience for social learning. Therefore,

applying Dewey's work is helpful in the context of education, ethics, and democracy that

brings equality in the classroom.

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