Democracy and Education by John Dewey: With a Critical Introduction by Patricia H. Hinchey

Reading Democracy And Education

John Dewey (1859 -- 1952) was part of the "Golden Age of American Philosophy" together with Charles Peirce, William James, Josiah Royce, and others. With their many differences, these philosophers helped develop a distinctive American philosophy of pragmatism. After a period of neglect, pragmatism has experienced a resurgence in recent years, and I have learned a great deal from it. Although I had earlier read some of Dewey's prolific and difficult writings, I only recently read his 1916 book, "Democracy and Education". Dewey wrote during the time that psychology was separating itself from philosophy. He contributed greatly to this creation of psychology as an independent discipline, as did William James. As James did earlier in his book "Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals" Dewey had a strong interest in education, shown in "Democracy and Education" and in many other writings.

At the beginning of his career and for many years, Dewey was a philosophical Idealist heavily influenced by Hegel. In this regard, he was similar to Josiah Royce, but the two philosophers would move in different directions. By the time he wrote "Democracy and Education", Dewey had long abandoned his Idealism while recognizing its continued impact on his thought. In company with some other readers. I think there is a much larger residual impact of Hegel's thought in Dewey than he cared to admit.

Dewey is unusual in that his work is studied in two disciplines: education and philosophy. Dewey's thoughts on education became part of a progressive movement in educating children that was praised, condemned, and misinterpreted and that is still discussed today in educational circles. I know little about the applied practice of Dewey's educational thoughts but approach him instead more through the broad questions of traditional philosophy. Dewey was ambivalent about "the broad questions of traditional philosophy". In any event, both educators and philosophers, sometimes combined in the same person, are involved in the serious study of Dewey.

"Democracy and Education" (1916) is a lengthy, difficult book from what is usually described as the "middle" period of Dewey's long career. Dewey's states the aims of the book in the "Preface". He endeavors to "detect and state the ideas implicit in a democratic society and to apply these ideas to the problems of the enterprise of education". He immediately raises the highly philosophical questions of "purpose" -- the purpose of democratic society and the purpose of education within it. Dewey says he will bring to bear on his study recent developments in the natural sciences, including evolutionary theory, the experimental method, and changes in industrial organization in capitalism. He wants to explore how education may help to understand and realize the "democratic ideal".

The book consists of 26 chapters, each with subsections, which loosely develop an issue and which conclude with a useful short summary. The writing may be garrulous and repetitive and not well organized. It is still highly insightful. The opening chapters of the book address the nature and purpose of education, centering perhaps on the concept of "education as growth". Then, several chapters in the middle of the book address the educational curriculum, including subjects such as geography, history, the natural sciences and mathematics. Dewey explores matters such as education in preparation for a career, with the requisite skill set, education to become a participant in a democratic society, and "liberal" education with its traditional goals for people who have leisure and a degree of financial security. There is a provocatively titled chapter "The Individual and the World" which echoes a famous American metaphysical treatise, Josiah Royce's "The World and the Individual". The final chapters of the book become, if possible, increasingly philosophical in tone, with the titles "Philosophy of Education", "Theories of Knowledge" and "Theories of Morals". Dewey opposes philosophical and educational theories which separate the "inner" life of persons from the "outer" and the social and communal. The book concludes:

"All education which develops power to share effectively in social life is moral. It forms a character which not only does the particular deed socially necessary but one which is interested in that continuous readjustment which is essential to growth. Interest in learning from all the contacts of life is the essential moral interest."

In reading "Democracy and Education", I was impressed by its breadth, philosophical knowledge, and attempt to redirect and refocus the nature of philosophy. Dewey is deeply engaged with the history of philosophy, particularly with the Greeks. He has a great deal to say on modern philosophy, Cartesianism, and its limitations, and on Hegel. On a more particularized level, there are many individual passages in this book that I learned from, including a discussion of the piano and of pianists, such as myself, who try to serve the masters of both classical music and of ragtime.
In Chapter XVIII, "Educational Values", Dewey writes:

"An individual may have learned that certain characteristics are conventionally esteemed in music; he may be able to converse with some correctness about classical music; he may even honestly believe that these traits constitute his own musical standards. But if in his own past experience what he has been most accustomed to and has most enjoyed is ragtime, his active and working measures of valuation are fixed on the ragtime level. The appeal actually made to him in his own personal realization fixes his attitude much more deeply than what he has been taught as the proper thing to say; his habitual disposition thus fixed forms his real 'norm' of valuation in subsequent musical experience."

What I learned most from "Democracy and Education" was Dewey's broad conception of philosophy and its nature. The book will reward readers interested in philosophical questions and in American pragmatism.

Robin Friedman