E N G L ISH A N D E D U C A T IO N D E P A R T M E N T STA TE ISL A M IC ST U D IE S IN ST IT U T E (ST A IN ) SA L A T IG A
Perpustakaan STAIN Salatiga
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07TD3010937.01 JOHN DEWEY’S CONCEPT OF EXPERIENCE BASED EDUCATION AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR SELF-SOCIALIZATION T H E SIS Submitted to the Board of Examiners in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan Islam (S.Pd.I) in the English and Education Department
LINA FIDAYANTI NIM. 113 01 041 E N G L ISH A N D E D U C A T IO N D E P A R T M E N T
DEPARTEMEN AGAMA SEKOLAH TINGGI AGAMA ISLAM NEGERI (STAIN) SALATIGA
Jl. Tentara Pelajar 02 Telp. (0298) 323706, 323433 Fax 323433 Salatiga 50721 9 5 Website :
DEKLARASI
BismillahirrahmanirrahimDengan penuh kejujuran dan tanggung jawab, penulis menyatakan bahwa skripsi ini tidak berisi materi yang pernah ditulis oleh orang lain atau pernah diterbitkan. Demikian juga skripsi ini tidak berisi satupun pikiran-pikiran orang lain, kecuali informasi yang terdapat dalam referensi yang dijadikan bahan rujukan.
Apabila di kemudian hari ternyata terdapat materi atau pikiran-pikiran orang lain di luar referensi yang penulis cantumkan, maka penulis sanggup mempertanggung jawabkan kembali keaslian skripsi ini di hadapan sidang munaqosyah skripsi.
Demikian deklarasi ini dibuat oleh penulis untuk dapat dimaklumi.
Salatiga, 17 Februari 2006 Penulis
LINA FID A Y A N TI NIM. 113 01 041 Dr. H. Muhammad Saerozi, M.Ag. The Lecturer of Education Faculty State Islamic Studies Institute of Salatiga ATTENTIVE COUNSELOR NOTES
Case : Lina Fidayanti’s Thesis Salatiga, Januari 27lh, 2006 i » Dear
The Head o f State Islamic Studies Institute o f Salatiga Assalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb.
After reading and correcting Lina Fidayanti’s thesis entitled “JOHN DEW EY’S CONCEPT OF EXPERIENCE BASED EDUCATION AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR SELF-SOCIALIZATION”, I have decided and would like to propose that if it could be accepted by the educational faculty, I hope it would be examined as soon as possible. W assalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb.
D E PA R T M E N T O F R E L IG IO U S A F FA R IS STA TE ISL A M IC ST U D IE S IN ST IT U T E SA L A T IG A
Jl. Stadion 03 Phone (0298) 323706 Salatiga 50721
STATEMENT OF CERTIFICATION
JOHN DEW EY’S CONCEPT OF EXPERIENCE BASED
EDUCATION AND ITS IMPLICATION
FOR SELF-SOCIALIZATION
LINA FIDAYANTI
NIM. 113 01 041
Has been brought to the board o f examiners in February 28th, 2006/Muharram 29th 1427 H to completely fulfill the requirement o f the Degree o f Sarjana Pendidikan in English and Education Department.
Islam (S.Pd.I)
Muharram 29th, 1427 H Salatiga,
February 28 th, 2006 M Board Examiners
Drs. Badwan, M.Ag Imam Sutomo. M.Ag NIP. 150 198 743 NIP. 150 216 814
1st Examiner 2nd Examiner
Drs. H. Sa’adi. M.Ag N«i wunto, M.IIUilT NIP. 150 256 821 NIP. 150 321 407
MOTTO
“L ife is 6eCieve in god, A n gles, a n d (ove each other, Cife is
education, Cife is choice, Cife is challenge, Cife is struggle, Cife is
change, Cife is chance, a n d Cife is a g o o d p la ce to mahe
som ething 6 e tte r fo rth e reaC Cife in the fu tu re ”
DEDICATION This thesis dedicated to: ► Everyone who are helps, love, and supported me ► Everyone who are care about education
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Firstly, Alhamdulillahirabbil ’alamin in the name o f Allah the Almighty, the Lord of the world, who has made it possible for the writer to write down this thesis as one o f the requirements for getting Sarjana Pendidikan Islam (S.Pd.1) in
English Department o f Educational Faculty of State Islamic studies Institute (STAIN) Salatiga in 2006.
The writer cannot realize this thesis without supports, guidance, advice and helps from individuals and institutions, therefore, she would like to thanks to:
1. Drs. Badwan, M.Ag, the head of State Islamic studies Institute (STAIN) of Salatiga.
2. Drs. H. Sa’adi, M.Ag, the head Institute of English Department Faculty.
3. Mr. Ruwandi, S.pd, MA, and Mr. Dr. H. Muh Saerozi, M,Ag, as the consultants o f this thesis, thanks for your patiences, guidances, suggestions and kindness during the completion o f this thesis.
4. All lecturers of State Islamic Studies Institute, especially for Mr. Hanung, Mr.
Hammam, Mr. Ari, Mrs. Woro, and all official staffs of this institute.
5. My beloved mother and father, Nursalim and Ristriyani who have give me everything that I need, love, prays, supports and, facilitated me, I love you so much although you are disappointed me.
6. Mr. Beny Ridwan, thanks for giving me the idea to write down this thesis.
7. Bude Mutiah, thank you very much for your help since in this institute.
8. Mbk. Tatik, congratulation you have a new baby, I hope you will be more patient than before to care your children.
9. My big family thanks for prays and supports.
10. Grandfathers, grandmothers, and all my cousins that I cannot mention one by one, I love you all.
11. My younger brother Fitori thanks for your helps, you are very kind brother, I hope you will enter in the Faculty that you want.
12. My elder brothers Duri and Arifin, my sisters in law Eryanti and Kus thanks being the part o f my big family.
13. All my friends in Ungaran, Mulyani, wiwik, Jumi, Cristin, Eni, Oim, Wedos Bodong, Iswadong, and Yanto you always in my heart guys.
14. Agus and Octa in Ungaran, sorry I cannot accept your love.
15. All my friends in TBI ’01, especially for Siti Muttaqiyatun, Anik, Barokah, Mbk. Nung, Hanik, Rofiq and Yula thanks for time, supports, prays, and love.
16. Every one who helps, and supported me that I cannot mention one by one thanks for everything.
The last, the writer realizes that this thesis is imperfect, the writer gladly to accepts constructive critique and evaluation to make this thesis better.
Salatiga, 7th March 2006 The writer
LINA FIDftYANTT NIM. 113 01 041
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX
CHAPTER i INTRODUCTION A. Background of the study The term of education is derived from Yunani’s language meaning
paedagigie. Its original word is pais meaning “child” and again meaning in
“teaching”. Paedogogie means the tuition having given to child.1 Almost everyone engages the education and executes it because this has never been separated from human life. Human infants receive education from their parents and when infants grow up and become adult they will also educate their children.
The simple and general terms o f education are the effort o f human beings to improve and develop the physical and spiritual potentials based on the exiting values and culture.2
In traditional communities, human beings rear their children by instinct, (a nature bom) for the continuity of life o f their generations. Instinct is the nature which is not needed to be studied before. (Instinct o f human being is such as the attitude to protect children, love to child o f baby’s crying, and feel the warm of mother’s gentle hug). Education by instinct is immediately followed by scientific and experience based education. People can create the way to educate their children because their intellectuals have
Ilmu Pendidikan,
1 Sudirman N,.et.aL, PT. Remaja Rosdakarya, Bandung, 5th Edition, 1991, Page 4.
2 been matured. That is true that more and more parents can create the way to educate their children.3
Children get the first experience in family because family is the first educational institution they engage. In the family they start to recognize life and education. Children’s behaviors, attitudes, and habits are established in the family.
Education is fundamentals because this considers their following educational paradigm both in school or society. The importance o f family education is undeniable since this influences the growth of children education to be the ideal human being.
The widest terms of education equal life because education is all situations of life influencing someone. Education is taken from experience.
Therefore, education can be defined as all experiences taken by everyone in their life. In these terms education takes place all day long from the birth through the death. Thereby, there are no time limits in the process of education. Education occurs when humans are infant babies, teenagers, and adults. Besides that, the sphere is not limited in a formal environment such as school but anywhere.4
John Dewey believes that education proceeds by the participation of the individual in the social consciousness of race. This process begins unconsciously almost at birth, and is continually shaping the individual’s
3 Made Pidarta, Landasan Kependidikan, PT. Rineka Cipta, Jakarta, Is1 Edition, 1997,
3 powers, saturating his consciousness, forming his habits, training his ideas, and arousing his feelings and emotions. Through this unconscious education the individual gradually comes to share in the intellectual and moral resources which humanity has succeeded in getting together.5
John Dewey was a writer, lecturer, and philosopher whose theories had a profound influence on public education in the first half of the 20th Century, especially in the United States. During his distinguished academic career, which began in 1884 at the University of Michigan, Dewey was a strong promoter of what was called instrumentalism (related to the pragmatism of Charles Peirce and William James) and the radical reform of the public education system.
His view held on room for eternal truth outside human experience, and he advocated an educational system with continued experimentation and vocational training to equip students to solve practical problems. In his career also worked at the University of Minnesota, the University o f Chicago and including in China, Japan, and Scotland.6
Because John Dewey’s concept o f experience based education is interesting, this is useful to investigate deeper. This aims at valuing his concepts and internalizing them within educational practice. Further, it may be characters o f education in Indonesia.
5 John Dewey, 1897, My Pedagogic Creed, (Online),
4 Because Dewey’s concept o f education is important, the writer is interested in writing down his views about experience based education.
B. Statement of The Problem
1. What are concepts o f John Dewey’s experience based education?
2. What are the implications o f John Dewey’s concept o f experience based education to self-socialization?
C. Limitation of The Problem
The writer would like to limit the problem into the concepts of John Dewey’s experience based education and their implication for self socialization.
D. Objective o f the Study
In writing this paper, the writer has objectives as follows:
1. To know John Dewey’s concepts of experience based education
2. To analyze the implication o f John Dewey’s concepts of experience based education to self-socialization.
£ . Benefit of the Study
To know more about John Dewey’s concept o f experience based education and contributions of these to educational concept in the world. To
5 investigate the significance o f the aim, building individual characters especially self-socialization building.
F. Literature Review
V. Good says that education has two meanings; the first is the aggregate o f all the processes by which a person develops abilities, attitudes, and other forms o f behavior o f positive value in the society in which he lives. The second is the social process by which people are subjected to the influence of a selected and controlled environment (especially that the school) so the may attain social competence and optimum individual development.7
Dewey reviews that education is as a necessity o f life, as social function etcetera.8 Rousseau says; “ ...education should aim to prefect the individual in all his powers...that object o f education is not to make a soldiers, magistrate, or priest, but to make a man”.9
W. Richey says “education” refers to the broad function of preserving and improving the life o f the group through bringing new members into its shares concerns. Education is thus a far broader process than that which occurs in school. It is an essential social activity by which communities continue to exist. In complex communities this function is
7 Laster D. Crow and Alice Cwow, Filsafat Pendidikan, teij. Djumberansyah Indar, Karya Abditama, 1st Edition, 1994, Page 17.
6 specialized and institutionalized in formal education, but there is always the education, outside the school with which the formal process is related.10
Lodge says the word “Education” is used, sometimes in a wider, sometimes in a narrower, sense. In the wider sense, all experience is said to be educative.11
G. Research Methodology
There are several steps used to cover the data needed
1. Kinds o f Research The writer is does not use qualitative or quantitative research but she uses literary and library research. She uses John Dewey’s idea, theory, concept and thought about education that is based on experience which is recorded in books, papers or journals.
2. Data Sources
a. Primary data sources The primary data sources are John Dewey’s Journals entitled
“Democracy and Education”, “Experience and Education”, and “My Pedagogic Creed”.
b. Secondary sources Secondary data sources are those are used to complete and support the former data sources used to analyze the problems appear in
7 the research. They consist o f books, papers, journals, and other sources which relate to research.
3. Method of analysis
a. Descriptive method Ih e writer interprets and explains data collected without hypothesis test.12 b. Critical method
The writer gives the Strength, weaknesses and the influence of John Dewey’s concept in Indonesia that recently called Curriculum Based Competence (CBC).
In this case, it will uncover John Dewey’s view o f education that is based on experience and his thinking o f education as a social process.
H. Outline of Thesis
This thesis consists o f five chapters, they are:
Chapter I is INTRODUCTION. It contains: background of the study, statement of the problem, limitation o f the problem, objective of the study, benefit o f the study, literature review, research methodology, and outline of thesis.
Chapter II is BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN DEWEY. It contains: biography of John Dewey, work of John Dewey, and academic career o f John Dewey.
8 Chapter III is JOHN DEWEY’S THOUGHT ABOUT EDUCATION.
It contains: the meaning o f pragmatism, the meaning o f experience, the meaning of habit, and the meaning of moral.
Chapter IV is DATA ANALYSIS. It contains: education as social process, education as individual and social process, the implication of educational concept for self-socialization, the influence o f Dewey’s thought in Indonesia, and the strength and weaknesses o f Dewey’s thought in Indonesia.
Chapter V is CLOSURE. It contains: conclusion and suggestion. The last part is bibliography and appendix.
CHAPTER II BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN DEWEY A. Biography o f John Dewey In sketching Dewey’s personal and intellectual development, it may be
instructive at the outset to recall briefly the context o f his extraordinary vigorous and long life (1859-1952). Dewey’s ninety-two years spanned the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the Russian Revolution, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and Auschwitz. Bom in the year in which Darwin’s original o f species appeared. Dewey witnessed the development o f relativity theory and quantum mechanics, and the creation and use o f the atom bomb. The electric light, telephone, television, automobile, and airplane were invented during his life. In short, Dewey’s lifetime was a period of unprecedented and far-reaching change in America and the world.1
John Dewey (October 20, 1859 - June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer, whose thought has been greatly influential in the United States and around the world. He is recognized as one of the founders of the philosophical school of Pragmatism (along with Charles Sanders peirce and William James), a pioneer in functional
Pragmatism and Classical American Philosophy,
'John J. Stuhr, Oxford University Press, N ew York, 2nd Edition, 200, Page. 431.10 psychology, and a leading representative o f the progressive movement in U.S. education during the first half o f the 20th Century.2
Dewey was a second-generation pragmatism, following Charles Senders Peirce and William James. William James was the son o f Henry
James, Sr., and Mary Rebertson Wals, both o f Scottish-Irish protestant lineages. The thought o f William James is the vestibule to the speculative break through o f the twentieth century. He anticipates the directions of modem physics, psychoanalysis and depth psychology, modem art, and the emphasis on relations rather than on objects or substances. James is a process philosopher, by which everyone assesses the journey, the flow, to be most important than the outcome or the product.
A contemporary of Henri Bergson, whom he influenced, and a goad to the subsequent work o f John Dewey and Alfred North Whitehead, James was also a decisive factor in he thought o f Niels Bohr, Edmund Husserl, Miguel de
Unamuno, Maria Montessari, and a countless host o f lesser figures. Long an underground thinker, William James rivals Emerson as a writer who is read widely by nonprofessional philosophers. The appeal o f the writings of
William James transcends disciplinary boundaries, for commentators on science, psychology, art, politics, ethics, and religion find his works a stimulating as do philosophers. In fact, the work of William James is never subject to such artificial discipline boundaries as that found in a typical
2 Wikipedia, Philosophy o f Education, (Online), ( up: cn.uik pcdia.org/wki/philosophv :, Accessed on August 31st, 2005)
11 university curriculum. He wrote for reflective people, no matter then- occupation or persuasion. As such James is the thinker who most appeals to the average person seeking wisdom and depth in his or her own, personal experiences.3
Dewey was not nearly so pluralist or relativist as James. He also held, unlike James, that experimentation (social, cultural, technological, philosophical) could be used as a relatively hard and fast arbiter o f truth. For example, James felt that for many people who lacked “over believe” in religious concept, human life was shallow and rather uninteresting, and that while no one religious belief could be demonstrated as the correct one, everyone were all responsible for taking the leap o f faith and making gamble on one or another theism, atheism, monism, or whatever.
Dewey, in contrast, while honoring the important role that religious institutions and practices played in human life, rejected belief in any static ideal, such as a theistic God. For Dewey, God was the method o f intelligence in human life.4
John Dewey was bom in Burlington, Vermont, in 1859, the third of the four sons of Archibald and Lucina Rich Dewey. His parents were third generation Vermonters and each had been bom and raised on a family farm before moving to Burlington, where John’s father was a grocer and Civil War Veteran, Archibald sold the grocery business when he volunteered to join the Union Army in Civil War, but after the war he became owner o f a cigar and
op.ch.,
12 tobacco shop, his mother a strong -willed evangelical Congregationalist noted for her work with the city poor.5
Dewey’s childhood was spent in Vermont, John Dewey and his two brothers grew up in a middle-class household in a community that included “old Americans” as well as new immigrants from Ireland and French Quebec. Lucina Dewey carried out philanthropic work with poor families living in the industrial section o f Burlington. At his mother’s request, Dewey joined the First Congregational Church at age eleven.
Dewey completed his grade-school work in Burlington’s public school at age 12 years; Dewey began high school in 1872 and completes his high school courses in three years. He began attending the University o f Vermont, in Burlington, in 1875, when he was 16 years old, and completed in three years the four college preparatory course in Latin Greek, French, English grammar and literature, and Mathematics.6
Dewey is a shy youth, he enjoyed reading books and was a good but not a brilliant student. He entered the University o f Vermont in 1875, and although his interest in philosophy and social thought was awakened during his last two year there, he was uncertain about his future career.7
Computing fo r ACS,
5 Pam Ecker, 1997, (Online), ( Ju/departmcnts/acs/l 890s/dewc\/dewe\ .htrni. Accessed on December 6th, 2005) 6 Pam Ecker, Ibid, Accessed on December 6th, 2005.
7 Paul Edward, The Encyclopedia o f Philosophy, Macmillan, U.S.A., volume one, 1967, Page 380.
13 In the midst o f his burgeoning career, Dewey married one o f his students in 1886. (Harriet Alice Chipman).8 His and his wife disaffection with schooling and school leadership based upon her experiences at Chicago may well have prompted this assignment. In addition, it is important to look at Dewey’s personal life for evidence o f his break from full concern with pedagogical issues. Dewey’s son, Frederick Archibald, was bom on July 19
1887, a daughter Evelyn Riggs was bom March 5 1889, his son Archibald Sprague was bom April 10 1891 and a third son, Morris was bom on October 18 1892. Unfortunately, on a trip to Europe, Morris died on March 12 1895.
On May 29 1896, his fourth son, Gordon Chipman, was bom in Chicago. A second daughter, Lucy Alice, was bom in Chicago on December 28 1897. And, on July 11 1900 a third daughter, Jane Mary, was bom in Chicago. A few months after Dewey resigned from the University of Chicago, his son Gordon died in Ireland (September 10 1904) as Dewey were touring.
The following year, Dewey adopted a boy, Sabino (or “Beano” as he would be nicknamed), an eight year old whom they had met in Italy on the trip which had taken their Gordon.9
Alice Dewey died in 1927 o f arteriosclerosis, having perhaps never fully recovered from the death of her two children and the lost of her involvement and position at the Chicago laboratory school. Dewey’s activities
8 Columbia Ensiclopedia, Influences on The M ajor Theorists, 2001, (Online), f Accessed on December 6th, 2005)
History o f American Thought: John Dewey and American
9 Spencer J. Maxcy, 2002, Education, (Online), flittp:/'/vv\v\v.thoemme.com/american/dewev intro.htm. Accessed on 16th January 2006)
14 were not confined to the academy. He took part in several politic campaigns and was active in a number of political action groups. In 1946, Dewey married Roberta Grant, whose family came from Oil City and had known Dewey for many years. Dewey had six children by his first wife and with her adopted one child and two children were adopted during John’s marriage with Roberta.
Dewey enjoyed good health and remained active into his nineties, as his correspondence and publications indicate. He suffered a broken hip while playing with his children in the late autumn of 1951, following his ninety- second birthday, while recovering, he became ill with pneumonia on may 31,
1952, and died the next day.10 1
1 B. Work of John Dewey (1859-1952) Dewey’s writing during his Hegelian period are in focused with an evangelical spirit and are an enthusiastic as they are vague. Whatever issue
Dewey considered convinced that once viewed from the perspective o f the organic, old problems would dissolve and new insights would emerge. Long after Dewey drafted away from his early Hegelianism, his outlook was shaped by his intellectual bias for a philosophy based on change, process, and dynamic, organic interaction.
After completing his doctoral studies at Johns Hopkins with a dissertation on the psychology of Kant, Dewey joined Morris at the University
10 John J. Stuhr, op.cit., Page 434.
Som e Notes on John Dewey,
11 Craig A. Cunnigham, (Online), (. Accessed on 27th September 2005)
15 o f Michigan in 1884. He remained there for the next ten years, with the exception o f one year (1888) when he was visiting professor at the University of Michigan, Dewey worked with G.H. Mead, who later joined Dewey at Chicago.
During his years at Michigan, Dewey became dissatisfied with pure speculation and sought ways to make philosophy directly relevant to the practical affairs o f men. His political, economic, and social views became increasingly radical. He agreed to edit a new weekly with a socialist orientation, to be called Thought News, but it never reached publication.
Dewey also became directly involved with public education in Michigan. His scientific interests, especially in the field o f psychology, gradually overshadowed his interest in pure peculation. He published several books on theoretical and applied psychology, in including psychology (New York, 1887,3d rev. ed., 1891), Applied Psychology (Boston, 1889), and The
Psychology o f Number and It Applications to Methods o f Teaching Arithmetic
(New York, 1895). The latter two books were written with J.A. McLellan.Dewey’s appointment in 1894 as chairman o f the department of philosophy, psychology, and education at the University of Chicago provided an ideal opportunity for consolidating his diverse interests. In addition to his academic responsibilities, Dewey actively participated in the life of Hull
House, founded by Jane Addams, where he had an opportunity to become directly acquainted with the social and economic problems brought about by
16 urbanization, rapid technological advance, and the influx of immigrant population.
Dewey mixed with workers, union organizers, and political radicals of all shorts. At the University, Dewey assembled a group of sympathetic colleagues who worked closely together. Collectively they published the results of their research in a volume of the Decennial Publications of University of Chicago entitled Studies in Logic Theory (Chicago, 1903). William James, to whom the book was dedicated, rightly predicted that the idea developed in the Studies would dominate the American philosophical scene for the next 15 years.
Shortly after Dewey arrived in Chicago, he helped found the famous laboratory school, commonly known a Dewey school, which served as a laboratory for testing and developing his psychological and pedagogical hypotheses.
Some of Dewey’s earliest and most important books on education were based on lectures delivered at the school: The School and Society (Chicago, 1900) and The Child and the Curriculum (Chicago, 1902). When Dewey left Chicago for Columbia in 1904 because of increasing friction with the university administration concerning the laboratory school, he had already acquired a national reputation for his philosophical ideas and educational theories.
The move to Columbia, where he remained until his retirement in
17 gained international prominence. Thought the Columbia Teacher College, which was a training center for teachers from many countries, Dewey’s educational philosophy spread throughout the world.
At the time that Dewey joined the Columbia Faculty, The Journal o f
Philosophy was founded by F.J.E. Woodbridge, and it became the forum for
the discussion and defense of Dewey’s ideas. There is scarcely a volume from the time o f its founding until Dewey’s death that does not contain an article either by Dewey or about his philosophy.
As the journalistic center o f the country, New York also provided Dewey with an opportunity to express him self on pressing political and social issues. He became a regular contributor to the New Republic. A selection of Dewey’s popular assay is collected in Characters and Events, 2 vols. ( New York, 1929).
Wherever Dewey lectured he had an enormous influence. From 1919 to 1921, he lectured at Tokyo, Peking, and Nanking, and his most popular book, Reconstruction in Philosophy (New York, 1920), is based on his lectures at the Imperial University o f Japan. He also conducted educational surveys o f Turkey, Mexico, and Russia. Although he retired from Columbia in
1930, he remained active and wrote prolifically until his death. In 1937, when Dewey was 78, he traveled to Mexico to head the commission investigating the charges made against Leon Trotsky, during the Moscow trials. After a careful investigation, the commission published its report, Not Guilty (New
18 when Bertrand Russell - his arch philosophical adversary - had been denied permission to teach at the City College o f New York, Dewey collaborated in editing a book of essay protesting the decision.
Although constantly concerned with social and political issues, Dewey continued to work on his more technical philosophical studies. M.H. Thomas’ bibliography of his writings comprises more than 150 pages.12
Dewey’s writing was best read after it had gone under an editor’s knife. Apparently, Dewey did not employ the “cut and paste” technique to his scholarly method. Instead, he would begin a book, and if a chapter were not going where he wished, he would tear it up and start over. The key educational writings show his tendency to fatten his books by transforming earlier essays or lectures done for other purposes into chapters in the final product. As a result, his writings are often rambling and polymorphous.
John Dewey was a prodigious writer. He seemed to be able to write during personal tragedies and professional crises. His large family did not stop his productivity. He lived a long life, and continued to write after retirement from Columbia, producing a steady stream of commentaries and philosophy essays into his 90s. Thankfully, recent scholarship, such as Anne S. Sharpe’s edited book, John Dewey: The Collected Works, 1882-1953 Index
(Carbondale, IL: Southern University Press, 1991), allows scholars to range
19 through the massive three sets o f re-published Dewey writings to locate the threads o f his philosophy.13
Dewey (1859-1952), American philosopher and educator, who was the most influential American thinker o f his time. His philosophy of “instrumentalism,” and his writing and teaching in general, profoundly affected philosophy and educational theory and practice but also psychology, law, and political science.14
Dewey published over 100 books during his lifetime, dealing with such topics as education, ethics, logic, metaphysics, aesthetics, religious experience, war, politics, economics, and valuation. (Several of his books are available on-line).15
C. Academic career of John Dewey (1859-1952) In the article “The Development o f American Pragmatism,” John
Dewey described Peirce’s views as stemming from an “Experimental, not a priori, explanation from Kant” and James’ pragmatism as inspired by British empiricism. But he also noted this difference: “Peirce wrote as a logical and James as a humanist.” There was, in fact, a cross-fertilization of thee strains, but the characterization it apt and traceable enough in the history o pragmatism and in Dewey, too, to be of expository aid. Dewey began to
op.clt., 13 Spencer J. Maxcy, Accessed on 16th January 2006.
The Encyclopedia o f Americana, Americana
14 Library o f Congress Cataloging, Corporation, New York, Volume nine, 1975, Page 45.
op.cit., 15 Craig A. Cunnigham, Accessed on 27th September 2005.
20 appreciate James while still under the influence of Hegelian and Kantin idealism, later he recognized the importance of Peirce, whose insights and ideas were in many out on his own. The disenchanted Hegelian Dewey achieved the Hegelian synthesis of the logical and humanistic sides of pragmatism.16
Dewey began his career as a Hegelian idealist, but gradually move away from idealism and adopted an "experimentalism" which stressed the continuity o f human thought and natural conditions, and which emphasized the ways in which human intelligence may be applied, through inquiry, to the solution o f real problems.17
Dewey began high school in 1872 and completed in three years the four-college preparatory course in Latin, Greek, French, English grammar and literature, and mathematics. At the age of fifteen, Dewey entered the University o f Vermont, from which he graduated with seventeen classmates in
1879. In addition to continuing his classical education, Dewey studied evolutionary thought and the philosophies o f the German idealist, the Scottish realists, and the intuitionalist.
He was also, indeed mainly, stimulated by his extracurricular reading o f contemporary English periodicals and their discussions of evolution and the relation o f science to traditional values. Following graduation with honors,
The Encyclopedia o f Philosophy
16 Paul Edward, , Macmillan, U.S.A., volume five,
1967, Page 434.17 Craig A. Cunnigham, op.cit., Accessed on 27th September 2005.
21 Dewey taught high school for two years in Oil City, Pennsylvania, developing his lifelong interest in schools and the educational process, and committing himself to further study o f philosophy.
Dewey spent the following year teaching in village school near Burlington and studying philosophy on a tutorial basis. At this time he sent an essay, “The Metaphysical Assumption o f Materialisms,” to W.T. Harris, editor o f Speculative Philosophy. Harris accepted the article (and, later, two others) and, in response to Dewey’s questions, encouraged him to pursue a career in philosophy. Dewey decided on the new graduate school at John Hopkins University, he applied for a fellowship, which he did not receive, then applied for a smaller scholarship, which again he did not receive, and, after borrowing $500 from an aunt, finally began the graduate program without aid and began his professional philosophical career.18
Inspired by the philosophical guidance o f professor H.A.P. Torrey of the University o f Vermont, Dewey decided in 1882 to continue his studies at the newly opened John Hopkins University. On the acceptance of his dissertation, “The Psychology of Kant,” he was awarded a doctorate there in
1884. in the same year he became an assistant professor of philosophy at the University o f Michigan.
After an interval o f one year (1888-1889) as a professor o f philosophy at the University o f Minnesota, Dewey served as chairman of the philosophy department at the University of Michigan from 1889 to 1894. During this
22 period he published several books, as well as articles on philosophy, psychology, and education. In 1886 he married his first wife, Alice Chipman, who later became a professional educator, they had six children.
Recognition o f Dewey as an important educator dates from his work as chairman o f the department o f philosophy, psychology, and pedagogy at the University of Chicago (1894-1904). In 1896 he organized the university’s laboratory school, which he directed with the help o f his wife until 1903.
There he pioneered in experimenting with curricula, methods, and organization, effectively combining educational theory and practice.
His success in persuading parents to participate with teacher in the educational process led to the publication of his first inflectional educational work, The School and Society (1899), a series o f lectures to parents o f the pupils in the school. During his tenure at Chicago he also published many other books and served (1899-1900) as president o f the American Psychological Association.
Because of disagreement with the administration of the University of Chicago over the laboratory school, Dewey left Chicago in 1904 to become a professor o f philosophy at Columbia University. There he attained the full measure o f his national and international reputation as a philosopher, educator, writer, and leader in public affairs.
Trough his teaching and writing Dewey reached out to the minds of philosophers and educators all over the world. His concern transcended the
23 Trough his own works and that of his disciplines, the foremost of whom in the field o f education was William Heard Kilpatrick, Dewey affected educational thought and practice in many lands.
During this period Dewey was active in many organizations, He served as president o f the American Philosophical Association in 1905-1906. in 1915 he become a founder and the first president o f the American
Association of University o f professor. The next year he become a charter member o f the Teachers Union, which he was to leave in the 1930’s because o f what he felt were leftist tendencies. In 1920 he helped organize the American Civil Liberties Union.
On the international scene, Dewey made tours o f the Far East in 1919 and 1931. He also surveyed education in Turkey (1924), Mexico (1926), and the USSR (1928), recording o f his observations in Revolution Impressions o f - China - Turkey (1929).
Soviet Russia and the Revolutionary World, Mexico
After his retirement in 1930, Dewey concentrated on writing and on public affairs. He was active in advancing adult education, especially in the fields o f political and international understanding. His political activities included the presidency of the people’s Lobby in Washington (after 1929) and the chairmanships of the League for Independent Political Action and the League for Industrial Democracy.
He also served as chairman (1937-1938) o f the commission of inquiry into the charges made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow trials, its finding,
24
that Trotsky was innocent, subjected Dewey to a storm o f vituperation from the Soviet and American Communist parties.
Dewey’s first wife died in 1927, and in 1946 he married Mrs. Roberta Grant. Dewey died in New York City on June 1, 1952.19
CHAPTER HI
JOHN DEWEY’S THOUGHT
ABOUT EDUCATION
A. The meaning o f pragmatism
Pragmatism is a school o f philosophy which originated in the United States in the late 1800s. Pragmatism is characterized by insistence on consequences, utility and practically as vital components o f truth. Pragmatism objects to the view that human concept and intellect represent reality, and therefore stands in opposition to both formalist and rationalist school of philosophy. Rather, pragmatism holds that it is only in the struggle o f intelligent organisms with the surrounding environment that theories and data acquire significance.
Pragmatism does not hold, however, that just anything that is useful or practical that should be regarded as true, or anything that helps us to survive merely in the short-term. Pragmatists argue that what should be taken as true is that which most contributes to the most human good over the longest course, in practice this means that for pragmatist, theoretical claims should be tied to verification practices.1
John Dewey was an American philosopher and educator who, with Charles Peire and William James, was a founder of the school of philosophy.
26 Known as “pragmatism”, He was also as the founder o f the progressive educational movement.2 In the late 1890’s, Dewey moved toward a philosophical stance later known as pragmatism. In education, his influence was a leading factor in the eradication o f authoritarian methods and placing emphasis upon learning through experimentation and practice.3
For Dewey past doctrines always require reconstruction in order to remain useful for the present time. Dewey’s philosophy has gone by names other than “pragmatism”. He has been called an instrumentalist, experimentalist, empiricist, a functionalist, and a naturalist.4
For Dewey, education is not the teaching o f mere dead fact. But the skills and knowledge which students learn be integrated fully into their lives as persons, citizens and human beings. At the Laboratory School which Dewey and his wife Alice ran at the University o f Chicago, children learned much o f their early chemistry, physics, and biology by investigating the natural processes which went into cooking breakfast - an activity they did in their classes. This practical element - learning by doing - sprang from his subscription to the philosophical school of pragmatism.5
Some Notes on John Dewey
2 Craig A. Cunnigham, , (Online), ( Accessed on 27th September 2005)
3 Columbia Encyclopedia, 2001, Dewey, John, (Online), (