It is difficult to point out a "most important belief" that could encapsulate the entire body of work, but I feel this reflects the complexities of education and the various tools necessary to tighten each bolt. Instead of commenting on each of his beliefs and attempt to summarize the entire creed, I would like to explore a couple of his beliefs more in-depth.
- "I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living." (http://dewey.pragmatism.org/creed.htm)
Preparation is a word that surfaces time and again when discussing education. I don't believe Dewey is discounting the value of being prepared as a teacher or as a student, but focusing our teaching around preparing students for the future is borderline senseless. As Dewey points out, because we cannot foresee the future, we cannot adequately prepare anyone for those unpredictable situations. Instead, he argues, we should focus on developing the ability to adapt to the social construct of a respective society. My question to this approach is, with the multitude of cultural backgrounds and religions, how do we simultaneously advocate democracy and assimilation into the society? Unless we assume that everyone will be accepting of each other's differences, there is some potential conflict to this idea. Perhaps therein lies the goal of education. To provide students with an acute sense of awareness of their own surroundings so that they will be able to make educated inferences about themselves and those around them.
So many layers to peel back...
Mr. Wilson
References:
Dewey, J. My Pedagogical Creed. School Journal vol. 54 (January 1897), pp. 77-80
I like the idea of teaching for the moment as a way to prepare for an unpredictable future. I think that resonates considerably with those of us in this program, because so much of what we do is trying to prep us for a future that we can't be entirely sure of. Perhaps, as you suggest, the best thing for us to do is to learn some lessons or some practices that will allow us to become the best teacher that we can be regardless of the future we are given. This was my favorite quote from the Creed because I think it applies to many facets of life outside of education as well as within the classroom. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your careful citation of the reading, something I realize I haven't done and should!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I agree that the future is unpredictable. It is true that the world is changing at a rapid rate, but I think a lot of our teacher prep classes are banking on a relatively stable idea of the future. I actually really embrace the idea of learning skills for future use. It might be a good idea to emphasize their use in the present so that we're not constantly doing things only because they will benefit us tomorrow. And, as you point out, be sure to be flexible in our preparation and anticipate not one situation but multiple possibilities, given the growing diversity of our students. To summarize, I actually thought Dewey discounts the future too much in his Creed.
Thanks for a good read!
This idea of preparing for the future is a tough one. I too see Dewey's point, and perhaps what he's saying is that instead of preparing for the future we should be creating the future. That is, if we're truly educating our students then they will be in control of the future. But of course the message from the powers that be is that students need to be ready to "compete 21st-Century global economy." What if I'd rather prepare my students to "contribute to the 21st century local community?" How/does that change what I teach and how I teach?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and am glad I am not the only one who is reading a lot more than I ever have! I am a science person, so beyond equations and biological processes, the most I have read the past few years is a menu :) You made an interesting statement when you said, "with the multitude of cultural backgrounds and religions, how do we simultaneously advocate democracy and assimilation into the society?" I think part of our responsibility as teachers is to educate our students to respect others based on their similarities and differences (in culture, religion, etc) I think this could prove challenging, especially depending on the district you are hired in, but is a very important lesson to teach our future students. Great post-
ReplyDeleteYour "take" on Dewey was both interesting and clearly evocative for your colleagues, and I think that Rory's response, stating both the dilemma that he sees and a possible resolution, is an interesting result from your provocative post. The question of what it means to cultivate good citizens in huge country where relatively few of us will have much *directly* to do with what goes on in DC or in Lansing is a challenging and complex one. So Rory muses about a local orientation...if we see wisdom in that, can we build a sense of ownership over one's local community that will be meaningful for the future citizens in our care? Jeni reframes your comments and asks whether school can be a place where we learn to respect difference. I think that between your post and these responses we get closer to what Dewey saw (I believe) as the crucial function of the classroom as a kind of hands-on laboratory of democracy, which would be somewhat less about the curricular content and more about HOW we do things, what kind of community we build, etc.
ReplyDeleteLots to think about, eh?