Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to guest teach our 8th grade history class. The topic was John Dewey and Progressive Education. Of course, you could devote an entire semester to this area of study, but my goal was simply to introduce students to the man, the broad brush strokes of Progressive Education, and then to briefly compare and contrast that with classical Christian education. I find that “Progressive Education” is a buzzword that we often throw around without ever taking the time to unpack it, so I thought it might be beneficial to share my notes from class more broadly. Please keep in mind that what I have here was meant to share with 8th grade students and so it is, somewhat, reductionistic (may the ed theory profs be gracious to me). Still, I hope you find it helpful and thought-provoking.
The Man
John Dewey (1859-1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational theorist. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont and a Doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. He then went on to teach at the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago (where he helped start the famous University of Chicago Laboratory School), and the Teachers College at Columbia University. He also served as the President of the American Philosophical Association. His two most famous works on education were, The Child and the Curriculum (1902) and Democracy and Education (1916).
Dewey developed a view known as Instrumentalism — the notion that thinking and the senses do not give us knowledge, but are tools (i.e. instruments), developed through natural selection, that help us solve problems and survive for the good of the species. According to this view, knowledge does not mirror reality, but rather is constantly changing as we experience and interact with our environment. In other words, truth, goodness, and beauty are not transcendent and eternal realities. They are concepts that help us move through the world and are ever-changing as we adapt.
Based on his belief in instrumentalism, Dewey advocated for highly interactive teaching methods, e.g., providing students with hands-on lessons, problem-solving opportunities, and ample experimentation. He felt that this was the best way to give students the experiences they needed to develop the tools to benefit society (i.e. the species). He was a strong proponent of public schools, and felt that they should teach what is best for the common good, not necessarily traditional or family-held values.
Progressive Education
We can explore the commonalities and differences between Classical Christian education and John Dewey’s Progressivism by looking at how each views several topics or goals in education.
Where do we agree and disagree with John Dewey?
I think that we are often too unfair towards John Dewey. Yes, we disagree in significant ways, but we don’t completely disagree. That is, we agree in some areas and some of our disagreements are more a matter of order of emphasis rather than outright disagreement.
We agree that there is a goal of education/learning towards which we are aiming, but we disagree on what constitutes that goal. For Dewey it is becoming the ideal version of yourself for the sake of society; for us the goal is becoming more like the ideal (i.e. Christ).
We agree that education should prepare good, productive citizens, but we disagree with the priority of this goal. For Dewey this is the primary goal of education, for us it is a secondary (maybe even tertiary) goal.
We agree that all students should have access to the best education possible. We disagree on what the best education possible means. For Dewey this means experiential and problem-based learning that draws out the students’ innate abilities, directed towards citizenship. For us, it means growing in wisdom and virtue, directed towards Christ-likeness.
We agree that the student plays a vital role in education — after all, the schools exist to educate students. We disagree on the place of the student in education, however. For Dewey, education is student-centered, and so education is, in many respects, focused on self-discovery. For us education is centered on truth, goodness, and beauty as they are manifest in the person and work of Christ. The goal is for the student to know, love, and embody truth, goodness, and beauty.
Two Ways of Thinking about Education
Finally, I leave you with two quotes on education to stir further thought and dialogue. The first, from David Hicks, espouses a classical view of education. The second is from John Dewey, himself, and espouses a Progressive view of education.
The aim of education is “the formation of a mature person who loves inquiry that reaches into earthly as well as transcendent realms of knowledge, who makes the connection between this knowledge and his responsibility in the life of virtue, and who struggles against long odds to fulfill in himself the high exigencies of the Ideal Type.” — Norms and Nobility by David Hicks
“How, then, stands the case of the Child vs. Curriculum?...The radical fallacy in the original pleadings…[is] that we have no choice save either to leave the child to his own unguided spontaneity or to inspire direction from without….Now, the value of…the [curriculum] is that it may enable the educator to determine the environment of the child, and thus by indirection to direct….Such and such are the capacities, the fulfilments, in truth and beauty and behavior, open to these children. Now see to it that day by day the conditions are such that their own activities move inevitably in this direction, toward such culmination of themselves. Let the child’s nature fulfil its own destiny…” — The Child and the Curriculum by John Dewey
In Closing
Learning to think critically, communicate eloquently, and winsomely defend the truth (three goals in our portrait of a graduate) requires us to put forth ideas in their best and strongest light — especially those with which we disagree. It doesn’t do anyone a service to construct straw men or evoke ad hominem attacks. It’s one thing to say that we disagree with John Dewey and the progressive philosophy of education that he promulgated. It’s another thing altogether to honestly analyze the man and his work and discuss the ways in which we both agree and disagree with him. This is what I’ve endeavored to do in a (very) short period of time. I hope my attempts help you to better understand the educational landscape today and, even more so, to better appreciate classical Christian education.
Sources:
Frame, John M. (2015). A History of Western Philosophy and Theology. P&R.
Dewey, John. (1902). The Child and the Curriculum. University of Chicago Press.
Hicks, David V. (1999). Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education. University Press of America.