The contributors address Dewey’s still powerful argument that education is not a preparation for life, but rather constitutes a fundamental aspect of the very experience of living. And the ultimate goal is to create human beings with good judgement, who can participate in the community to discover the common good.These original essays focus on John Dewey’s Democracy and Education, a book widely regarded as one of the greatest works ever written in the history of educational thought. That is the only way democracy can function as a lifeform, Dewey thought.

The goal is to make the children want more teaching. Partly because you do something, partly because you do it together and thereby acquire social interest and moral knowledge. The eight-year-olds are occupied by exploring, the nine-year-olds geography, and the older ones by scientific experiments within anatomy, physics, political economics and photography.ĭewey thought that this type of practical learning combines more learning recourses than any other method. The seven-year-olds study prehistorical life. The six-year-olds build a farm of blocks and plant crops they process. However, the children are divided by age, where the youngest do what they know from their home. Girls participate in crafting equally to the boys, who have as many cooking classes as girls. In a Dewey school the stereotypical gender roles are discarded. Both involve and foster self-determination, self-development and participating in the common good, enlightened by intelligent understanding and scientific spirit. As he put it: “ Education is not preparation for life education is life itself.”Īccording to Dewey, democracy and education are two sides of the same coin. Education is a lifelong process on which our democracy is built. According to Dewey teaching and learning, education and discipline are closely connected to community – the social life. However, Dewey’s pedagogical philosophy is not just about learning by doing.

In Denmark, his way of thinking inspired the school system to such a degree that Denmark has been called Dewey’s second home country.įurthermore, Dewey was sought after in countries like China and Soviet where he was used as a pedagogical consultant. This idea has had a huge impact, especially among teachers in the USA. One of Dewey’s ideas about teaching and learning is that practical problem solving and theoretical teaching should go hand in hand.

Dewey john democracy and education