John Dewey, My Pedagogic Creed

John Dewey, My pedagogical CreedThe ideas of the great Ameri poop philosopher, John Dewey, transformed the Ameri mess rearing system. spell all Dewey did was plainly put through round of his pragmatist philosophical ideals to the classroom, the results of his consort changed involveing forever. In the gyp essay, My Pedagogic Creed, Dewey gives his readers great insight into his ideas regarding what study is, how it should be do, and why its important. Today, he is considered a father of precept and his views argon being adapted in all sorts of panaches in classrooms around the creation. Dewey eldest s a aliked out by rejecting the traditional ideal of Ameri tush education which was built around teachers stand up in the front of the classroom and pouring data into the minds of their assimilators. Instead, Dewey suggested a new form of education that utilized applic adequate to(p) get under ones skin as the draw element of discipline. Thesis sentences hereJohn Dewe y embodies many of the virtual(a) ideals that define American philosophy. He was born around the time that Charles Darwins derivation of Species book came out, so the debates surrounding that topic had a monumental fascinate on his philosophy. Along with many early(a) American philosophers of Deweys time, such as Charles Sanders Peirce, in that respect was a desire to respond to these new discoveries in evolutionary science and find out how they related to philosophy. Dewey believed that knowledge was scoop discovered through the scientific method. As I will later address about, this is nowhere more(prenominal)(prenominal) prevalent than in Deweys model for education in which he defaults to hands-on experience and doubt as the paramount key to learning. Going out into the in truth initiation and having a live experience that could be tested and criticized by others in order to progress to something stop was all-important(a) to Deweys view and a foundational belief of many American pragmatists.In the eyes of Dewey, education and life sentence were one in the same. Dewey is quoted as saying, education is a process of living and not a preparation for early life (8, My Pedagogic Creed). A proper education of the individual was essential to the functioning and growth of that individual and the society they lived in, as take was first a social institution. School was to be centered on the conjunction and the student was being fixed in instill so they could be an active member of the community. Dewey advocated that what a squirt does in their home life should be incorporated into the curriculum in the classroom. Also for Dewey, the student had to be invested in their education for it to mean anything. The vogue that he suggested this be realized was to let the students learn about something they were interested in. An education could only be valuable if the student was learning material that they could in reality present to their real e rat tlingday life as evidenced by Deweys quote, True education comes through the stimulation of the childs powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself (2, My Pedagogic Creed). Dewey believed that education was a process of disco genuinely where students would carry what they were interested in at their own pace as they were gradually becoming more aware of where their interests laid.Deweys education system is perhaps most well cognise for how it stresses the importance of hands on experience in the learning process. Dewey believed that great deal learned best by going out and interactively doing. Out were the days where teachers would devil on facts and information, forcing their ideas onto the students. Dewey criticized teachers and the current education system for protecting students as well closely and not letting them go out into the real public so they could blossom saying, the situation approaches learning to swim without going too near the water (The Relation of Theory to Practice, Dewey). For Dewey, a teachers job was more about being a facilitator to the students, helping them discover what they were interested in and then creating ways for them to actively do these things. Ultimately for Dewey, learning grounded in experience combined with present matter that was interesting and applicable to the student would lead to a greater society.I consider that both solid and bad come from John Deweys ideas for education. First off, I like Deweys question outside(a) from teaching styles that stressed only memorization and the regurgitation of facts. hands-on experience is a proven way for students to learn. It is much more pleasurable for the student and captivatems to be out adjust applicable to their future. I also correspond with Deweys view that students should learn about something that interests them. Stuffing facts that kids do not take up any desire to learn down their throats is not beneficial to anyone. When s tudents can real connect with the material they are learning, they are more probably to put in the time and effort that is necessary to fully develop their knowledge and understanding of a subject. Lastly, I believe that its a sizeable idea to focus your studies in one particular area as it is very difficult to master a multitude of subjects. I regard its better to be extremely proficient in one subject than to nominate an average amount of knowledge in multiple subjects. This way, everyone can pick an area of study that interests them and then, as a community, each individual can bring their one unique area of expertise to the control panel and the rest of the people that arent as fluent in that subject can benefit. With that being said, I think the preceding principles need to be employ in moderation.While memorization and repetition is not a thoroughgoing(a) form of teaching, the results are hard to argue with. I believe that on that point is something to be said for m astering a subject. For example, my major area of study is accounting. It is one thing for me to get hands on experience directly applicable to my major, but learning cannot just come through acting so to speak. I must first study all the foundational information that is out there. There are many people in the world that are much more knowledgeable on the subject than me and there are a chance of valuable things I can learn from them. Secondly, to be a successful accountant, there are other affectionateness subjects that I must be competent in. For instance, I need to be knowledgeable in English to be able to communicate with my co dieers and I need to know math so I am able to compute the formulas require in accounting. There is a proven set in having a rounded education. Learning about subjects that may not directly nurse to your area of study can benefit you in many divergent ways. As an example, perhaps it could sharpen your sarcastic persuasion skills. And on top of tha t, a student might think they are not interested in a certain subject until they actually take a class and learn about it. Hard work and long hours spent in the library-sometimes memorizing principles and formulas-is necessary for me to be a master of accounting, although I may not enjoy that work. To me, Deweys education system seems to hike skipping the main course and going straight to dessert. I believe that I first need to master the principles of accounting in order to be a shot of going out into the real world and actually doing accounting.Dewey stayed true to his pragmatic ideals by testing out his own education theories in a real-life environment. He created what became to be known as his very own laboratory school. Deweys school was radically different than any other of its time. The students did not sit at desks and listen to a teacher lecture or do homework problems out of a textbook. Instead they would be moving about the classroom doing varying physical activities, s uch as sewing or cooking. As I stated earlier, Dewey believed that students could learn the critical skills (math and science for example) that they needed by doing these types of activities instead of the more traditional examine the textbook method. The children were broken down by age and every different age group was always doing something different. Dewey had the kids going on field trips, build models, acting out plays, and playing games among many other active things. He preached that teachers should hold off on having kids do things like reading and write until the student found it necessary and appealing to do so (Dewey Article, Enotes). Deweys school had its successes and failures and there is a lot that can be taken away his grand experiment.While I do admit that a lot of great education practices were first developed at Deweys laboratory school, I cannot help but notice the fundamental flaws that existed in it. If I was to apply what Dewey showcased in his school to t odays world of education, I think his system would fail. The close for this is first that Dewey seemed to be looking at education through rise colored glasses so to speak. In my opinion, a theory on education should be able to apply to any situation. I think about what Dewey had put together in his school, where the home life was heavy incorporated into the class curriculum. But, what about children that come from broken homes, as we see so oft in todays society? If a child is being abused or suffering under the watch of alcoholic parents, who could condole with less about their childs education, how would that fit into Deweys system? Deweys school would probably work well in a case where a child has very supportive parents that are extremely interested in their childs education, but how often is that not the case in todays world? Henry Perkinson, an author and pedagog at New York University, makes a comment about Deweys lab school saying, Deweys educational philosophy depicts a school or school first step that never existed and probably never could exist. To carry it out would require superteachers and superstudents (Perkinson). While I believe Dewey is taking education in the right direction, I think he first needs to find a way to develop a theory on education that can apply to each and every student.Another area that I just lean agree with Dewey in is how he resorts to experience as the primary way for a student to learn. Without a doubt, I believe that his method of inquiry can add a lot to a students education. In his school, the kids were doing so many amazing things that I wish I could have done in my years as a young boy. But, looking at the big picture, there seems to be so many things that a child must learn over their lifetime that they cannot possibly discover and do everything. Yes, you can learn math when measuring out the flour required to bake a cake, but can that form of math be applied to everything? There are other things out in the world like measuring liquids or counting coins. How would one child have the time and the means to experience every single thing? I think that at some point, students will need to use some form of memorization of information or facts as a cornerstone of knowledge that they can then use to learn about other things. A quote from a parent that had a child in Deweys school really sums up this problem saying, We have to teach him how to study. He learned to observe last year (Storr).I think that Dewey had the right idea, but he had everything backwards. First, the student should learn a foundation of knowledge, from something like a textbook, and then they can go out and experiment and apply that knowledge to real everyday situations.John Dewey was a great philosopher that make ground-breaking advances in education. He was a man that practiced what he preached and for that I have great respect. I do like Deweys ideas in doses. In the end, I think that a good balance of his experiential learning in combination with a disciplined study of information and textbooks is the best form of education. While his ideas did have their flaws, the direction that he took American education was for the better.