John Dewey, an education advocate from the turn of the 19th century, wrote and spoke of ideals currently found in classrooms where teachers try to move away from lecture-based testing-assessed education models. Today, readers can see many of his heartfelt ideals in Twitter and Facebook education channels when authors post about hands-on learning, PBL, International Baccalaureate, maker education, and design thinking. We can even see evidence of Dewey’s principles in Chinese education systems. Evidence of his writings are present around the world, though he may not always be referenced.
Though the principles of Dewey’s beliefs did not necessarily originate from him, he is considered an origin for the modern popularity of many of these ideas. Dewey writes of some particular purposes of education, the connection is clear. Fully gaining control of yourself and your abilities was part of Dewey’s “pedagogic creed” (Talebi). The assumption that there is a valuable “self” to master, and that many important skills are internal, is something that is hard to focus on in a content- and score-based classroom. An effective teacher can pursue these principles though experiential projects, which often highlight another principle of Dewey’s, the awareness and active contribution to “the social consciousness” (Talebi). Self-mastery and participation in a social consciousness can be at different metaphysical ends; however, it is frequent across philosophies, and even religions, to situate the two as codependent. Dewey saw the two as the fundamental basis for creating a democratic citizen and society (Mintz). This represents a faith that base human qualities are “good”, rather than the goodness coming from inputs of culture and information.
Self-mastery has aligned well with American ideas about self-sufficiency and individual righteousness, and the concepts . In students projects that focus on community service, self-mastery is an expected skill. The IBO.org website, a resourced for I.B. communities, shares that “The International Baccalaureate program is dedicated to … getting our students engaged in real world problems” (“Project Based Learning”). Teachers managing projects where students can address real world problems frequently depend on students to plan independently and self-assess. Research is coordinated by teachers, but empathy for the situations found and the definition of struggles is often left to students, who are encouraged to reflect and generate this information based on their own feelings about the researched content.
Participation in the social consciousness is evident in many progressive classrooms, and we can see some clearly defined examples in the I.B. system. In 2017, Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, highlighted Dewey’s visit to China in the early 20th century and the appreciation the government had for Dewey’s belief that individuals should, as a primary drive, productively support society (Strauss). A century later, many international schools support the I.B. system and find relatable goals with local parents on this topic. Chinese public schools rely less upon self-mastery and more upon content-mastery, but nevertheless combine that mastery with a goal of supporting society and participating in the social consciousness. As China grows in terms of education and economy, it may be that the western world will gain insight into the educational practices of public and private schools. The language barrier and relative lack of individual blog or public social-media posts currently inhibit this, however the flow of educational topics into China is plentiful.
The idea that humans are inherently good crops up throughout Dewey’s principles and I.B. principles as well. Dewey disfavored the idea of a one-way knowledge transfer from expert to novice (Talebi). I.B. encourages research and discussion, in part as a way to avoid this one-way flow of information. Dewey furthermore believed that teachers have a 3. “…unique responsibility to produce psychological and social goods…” noting that the skills are used in life, not mentioning the workplace (Talebi). This priority of life skills over work skills speaks to an assumption that humans are inherently meaningful and beneficial. Though, it should be noted that Dewey did not lay out his principles as a requirement for every teacher, noting that such things as “building character” in students could be achieved by the most interested and capable teachers, and lacking any chastisement of teachers who did not meet this particular goal. One consequence of this is that it leaves an educational system an option to adopt his principles in some areas of their schools, but not in all areas, and still be able to agree with Dewey’s plans. This may be because Dewey felt that his system was incomplete, or that a state of being incomplete was necessary for a system to be successful.
Teachers at modern day I.B. schools are often hired when their curiosity, empathy, and motivation characteristics reveal themselves to be a priority in the teacher’s personality and behavior. This is at odds, or at least in parallel, with a requirement of expertise in particular subjects. Indeed, as the basic subjects of Maths, Humanities, and Language develop into courses that require students to interact with the community, improve their own self-control, and perform creative studies into high school (rather than pure knowledge consumption), teachers are less able to prepare for the classroom through subject matter expertise. The structure of I.B. lessons require a teacher to behave more like a project manager, and to develop students into productive staff. This ties the success of the group together, which can feel quite risky, and requires a faith in human beings.
In China, where Dewey spent two years, he was regarded as “Dewey the Great” (Strauss). Though the government does not currently endorse his complete philosophy, his advocacy of hands-on learning remains as a reference for I.B. schools. The same can be said of schools in the U.S. who are busy communicating changes of educational style to parents who were not raised in such a system. The gradual change of education is something that Dewey seemed set on, with change being a larger driving factor than the final unspoken goal.
References
Mintz, A. I. (n.d.). “What is the purpose of education? Dewey’s challenge to his contemporaries.” [pdf] Retrieved June 22, 2020,https://www.academia.edu/23693775/What\_is\_the\_Purpose\_of\_Education\_Deweys\_challenge\_to\_his\_contemporaries
Talebi, Kandan. (2015, September). “John Dewey- Philosopher and educational reformer. European Journal of Educational Studies.” [pdf] Retrieved June 22, 20120 from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED564712.pdf
“Project Based Learning” (n.d.). “PBL Brings Authenticity to International Baccalaureate: MyPBLWorks.” PBL Works, Buck Institute, my.pblworks.org/resource/blog/pbl_brings_authenticity_to_international_baccalaureate.
Strauss, Valerie. (2017, January). “Why Pragmatic Liberal Education Matters Now More than Ever.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 13 Jan. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/13/why-pragmatic-liberal-education-matters-now-more-than-ever/