Philosophy of Education
Introduction
The traditional and progressive education approaches have, over time, evolve thanks to Dewey’s critical philosophical involvement. The research study will endeavor to unearth general concepts of education as viewed by Dewey regarding child curriculum, school, and society, democracy, and culture. The phenomenon will attempt to explain what educative and mis-educative experience entails while keen on giving examples; after that, provide the relationship between democracy and education in detail. Later an explanation of what it means by learning by doing will be studied and finally discuss the relationship between freedom and social control as described experience by Dewey.
Educative and Mis-Educative Experience
The concept of education and miseducative experience is arguable one of the most studied child curriculum by Dewey. He is probably famous for having played a significant role in the revolution of philosophical ideas in schools during his era. His bold approach to this concept still has a positive impact on new schooling programs. Today, the debate is still rife concerning teachers’ preparation for possible reification and schools perpetuation in china society and teachers’ training for institutions as a probable target for propelling china as a democrat (Jenlink et al, 2019). There existed a sharp contrast between traditional and progressive forms of education, which bore vast differences. Dewey decried of conventional education systems as consisting of historic structures. He compares it to bodies of skills, information, and developed standards with fundamental rules of conducts. Ideally, the tasks of educators were solely to impart knowledge and skills while keen to enforce new rules of conduct onto the new learners. From Dewey’s perspective, educative experiences come as a culmination of interaction and collection of the past and present concepts between students and teachers. The said interactions should be healthy and bound to bring future growth opportunities. He further stated that unlimited growth entailed “plasticity,” which required cooperation that is devoid of rigidity in development maters (Jenlink et al, 2019). For example, my teaching experience in piano and later as a primary school teacher portrayed a perfect educative vast knowledge, therefore able to interact with different personalities.
On the contrary, Dewey defined regarded mis-educative experiences as those that are fixed and rigid, thus retarding one’s personal growth. For example, traditional forms of education, like the fixed Chinese culture of individualism, acted as a bottleneck to development. Therefore such actions that did not promote growth and poised predetermined ends were uncouth practices. Dewey’s philosophy of experience emanated from his educational background, which was deeply anchored in his advocacy of democratic education.
Progressive education is made apparent today because of the role played by Dewey. Essentially, he defined it as a concept that emphasizes the need for children to learn by doing otherwise known as the ‘hands-on’ approach. It merely underscored the fact that human beings learn well when they get involved in different activities. For that matter, Dewey was referred to as pragmatic since that placed him in the educational philosophy category. From the educational point of view, Dewey believed that children should be allowed to learn and adapt to their surrounding environment.
Similarly, he asserted that the same idea was equally crucial for teachers. Therefore, he advocated for a joint educative experienced by both students and teachers in school setups. It is imperative to note that Dewey’s approach to experience allows for broader viewership of education since it’s based on the holistic interaction between people and the environment. At the center of all this socialization is an experience that acts as a Channel of a communicative, historical, and cultural phenomenon as opposed to individual interaction. He further argues that possessing quality educative experience is fundamental, insisting on the impact of interactive and social learning processes in institutions.
Additionally, a diverse range of experiences exhibited by students is brought about by differences in their culture (Collins et al, 2019). Therefore, it is paramount for educators to consider such variations. It is incumbent for the tutors to organize for a learning experience that best suits the students by allowing assimilation of fresh materials to be geared towards benefiting the learner. To develop such kind of structure, one should acknowledge experience as a tool to propagate that analogy. As a subsequent, educators’ sensitivity in selecting a course of the discussion is vital. After that, relating it to the learners’ previous experience without necessarily going off-topic, results in bringing forth more excellent educational value. Perhaps one of the challenges to Dewey’s philosophy of education is the rapid globalization across the world. Therefore, teachers should continually adapt to new subject matters that are brought about by different student experiences even as they interact with a varied environment.
Relationship Between Democracy and Education
There existed an intimate relationship between democracy and education, which shaped contemporary activities in the west. Dewey was one of the theorists who advocated for participatory democracy that is inclusive of human beliefs, faith, and experience as far as the education concept was concerned. He further stated that good theoretical education generates requisite methods and aims that he referred to as ‘organized intelligence’ otherwise known as today as ‘collective intelligence.’ he narrates says, “Faith in democracy is all one with faith in experience and education” (Collinet al, 2019). First, political and economic history tends to shape institutions’ landscape more essentially. On the contrary, our subjectivities are developed by our institutions. For example, if china experiences recession, political stance might suffice, thus leading to a fallout in democracy. Citizens’ opinions might account for nothing as political bigwigs run the show.
Consequently, the education system might drastically fall due to the democratic influence championed by the leaders. More often, school policies are imposed by individuals that command political and economic power as opposed to being initiated by people of goodwill. Thus institutions in the west, especially in china’s republic, define the rules of the game in human interaction tendency. In the broad spectrum, citizens conceptions influenced by democratic institutions.
Another meaningful relationship between democracy and education is manifested in globalization. From Dewey’s ideology, exposure to diverse histories, cultures, and religion by people has significantly been influenced by globalization (Sikandar, 2016). Besides, it has had a significant stake in the contribution of the marginalization and displacement of workers, not to mention the depreciation of the local community and neighborhoods’ principles. In the education sector, globalization has increasingly enhanced its marketization. For example, advancement in digital technologies and with prevailing democracy that makes it accessible has made it easy for students and teachers to interact. Also, with technology, learning materials can easily be accessed in digital platforms hence making education decisions holistically simpler. The engagement between education stakeholders and learners at all levels of education underscores the fact that cohesiveness and functional democracy drives institutions’ agendas.
Also, with democracy comes freedom of interdisciplinary curriculum that emphasizes the interest of children. Dewey believed in the curriculum that sets children free from classroom and education settings, which is run by the rules of the thump (Dewey, 2013). Besides, he encourages institutions to adopt a child-centered approach with much emphasis on their interest and needs, and at the time, allowing them to explore the outside environment. In this particular setting, Dewey opinionated that the teachers’ role would be more of a facilitator than a commandant and instructor. Therefore, teachers should act democratically, observing students’ interests while keen on the natural course they might take in life, and then serve as people who can help solve problems skills. The traditional system of education concerning democracy seemed to be too dictatorial. First, an instructor would be seen standing in front of a class full of students. The work of students is to pay attention and receive information as it is from the teacher. After that, they regurgitate it in the form of a written test served at the end of the lesson. Democracy is at stake here as a teacher is considered to be authoritative and influential as his say is final—conversely, Dewey’s philosophy of education advocates for democratic interdependence (Sikandar, 2016). The concept calls for inclusivity in participation. Students are encouraged to work in groups as they draw different knowledge within the course study. To this extent, the relationship between democracy and education is, by far, intertwined, whose only fruits can be realized through holistic participatory by all stakeholders.
References
Dewey, J. (2013). The school and society and the child and the curriculum. University of Chicago Press.
Jenlink, P. M., & Jenlink, K. E. (2019). Examining Educative Versus Mis-Educative Experiences in Learning to Teach. In The Handbook of Dewey’s Educational Theory and Practice (pp. 155-173). Brill Sense.
Sikandar, A. (2016). John Dewey and his philosophy of education. Journal of Education and Educational Development, 2(2), 191-201.
Collins, J., Hess, M. E., & Lowery, C. L. (2019). Democratic spaces: How teachers establish and sustain democracy and education in their classrooms. Democracy and Education, 27(1), 3.