John Dewey

Experience & Education

Touchstone Book/ Simon & Schuster

New York, NY 1997

Overall: a comparison between traditional, hard, old school methods and new, shallow, student
centered touchy feely bs.

True learning is historical and social; it is orderly and dynamic.

see/refer to Lanham and the tension between Phil/Rhet

5 Philosophy of Eudcation: "It means the necessity of the introduction of a new order of
conceptions leading to new modes of practice."
it is not about compromising between different groups

10 in foreword by Alfred L. Hall-Quest

"Dr. Dewey interprets education as the scientific method by means of which man studies
the world, acquires cumulatively knowledge of meanings and values, these outcomes, however,
being data for critical study and intelligent living."

Chapter 1

Emphasis of Trad Ed:

Bodies of information
standards and rules of conduct
moral training
school organization/ pattern of organization

21 "...the general principles of the new education do not of themselves solve any of the problems
of the actual or practical conduct and management of progressive schools. Rather, they set new
problems..."
Just because you have a proposal does not mean that you have an answer. That just
means you have a new set of issues. Thus, in short, it is vital to have not only a set of solutions,
but be able to apply and demonstrate the value of those solutions to your work. They must be
viable in lived experience.

22 "For any theory and set of practices is dogmatic which is not based upon critical examination
of its own underlying principles."
Self-reflection is vital; it is essential. New modes should be considered, and current
practices must be honestly critiqued if true progress is going to be made. Man, that sounds so
hollow and bureaucratic, like I watered down my reading of Dewey.

Chapter 2
Experiences are of different value; they are not equal
everything depends upon the quality of the experience

Two aspects of experience 27

agreeableness
continuity (influence on later experiences)

Education must be framed 28

what is done
how it's done

A THEORY OF EXPERIENCE WHICH DIRECTS PROPER SELECTION AND USE OF

MATERIALS IS NEEDED TO REFORM SCHOOLS.

25 "Experience and education cannot be directly equated to each other."

30 "But the easy and the simple are not identical."

I LOVE this quote!

31 "Failure to develop a conception of organization upon the empirical and experimental basis
gives reactionaries a too easy victory."

Chapter 3

35 "...the principle of continuity of experience means that every experience both takes up
something from those which have gone before and modifies in some way the quality of those
which come after."

36 "Growth, or growing as developing, not only physically but intellectually and morally, is one
exemplification of the principle of continuity."

quick notes:
38 role of experience; job of educator to watch the direction of the experience

39 every experience impacts objective conditions

40 must constantly keep context in mind

42 situation defined: when and how internal and objective conditions intermingle

44 defined environment: whatever conditions interact with the personal needs or desires.
46 fatty quote: "Failure to take into account adaptation to the needs and capacities of individuals
was the source of the idea that certain subjects and certain methods are intrinsically cultural or
intrinsically good for mental discipline. There is no such thing as educational value in the
abstract."

48 subjects should not be learned in isolation

48 "Perhaps the greatest of all pedagogical failures is the notion that a person learns only the
particular thing he is studying at the time."
"The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning."

49 def of prep: "In the first place, it means that a person, young or old, gets out of his present
experience all that there is in it for him at the time in which he has it. When preparation is made
the controlling end, then the potentialities of the present are sacrificed to a suppositious future.
When this happens, the actual preparation for the future is missed or distorted. The ideal ofusing
the present simply to get ready for the future contradicts itself. It omits, and even shuts out, the
very conditions by which a person can be prepared for his future."

Chapter 4

51 again, two principles fundamental to constitution of experience

interaction and continuity

54 "...in a well-ordered school the main reliance for control of this and that individual is upon
the activities carried on and upon the situations in which these activities are maintained. The
teacher reduces to a minimum the occasions in which he or she has to exercise authority in a
personal way. When it is necessary, in the second place, to speak and act firmly, it is done in
behalf of hte interest of the group, not as an exhibition of personal power. This makes the
difference between action which is arbitrary and that which is just and fair."

57 weakness in control arises from failure to create/arrange for work which generates situations
that exercise control over what the students do

59 importance of manners and courtesy

Chapter 5

63 "Freedom of movement is also important as a means of maintaining normal physical and

mental health. We have still to learn from the example of the Greeks who saw clearly the
relation between a sound body and a sound mind."

64 "The ideal of education is creation of power of self-control. But the mere removal of
external control is no guarantee for the production of self-control."

Chapter 6

67 "There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than
its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the
purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional
education greater than its failure to secure the active co-operation of the pupil in construction of
the purposes involved in his studying."

"Nevertheless, neither impulse nor desire is itself a purpose. A purpose is an end-view."

68 "Observation alone is not enough. We have to understand the significance of what we see,
hear, and touch. This significance consists of the consequences that will results when what is
seen is acted upon."

69 Formation of purpose:
observe surrounding conditions
know what has happened in the past: get this from recollection and outside input
judgment which assembles observation and what is recalled

71 teacher needs to be aware of students' abilities and work with them to develop their abilities

Chapter 7

73 anything which can be called "study" must be based in normal life experiences

75 when something is learned, that is not just or only a goal achieved: it is an instrument to open
up new fields and levels of learning

76-7 when planning or looking at educational material, it is important to remember how past
materials tied into current learning and how current learning links to future learning experiences

79 when creating lessons, make sure that the project grows out of immediate local conditions and
that it is within the abilities of the students AND be sure that it incites an active search for
information and new ideas.

"The process is a continual spiral."

82 "No experience is educative that does not tend both to knowledge of more facts and
entertaining of more ideas and to a better, a more orderly, arrangement of them."
83 Modulation/ Oscillation Links to LANHAM?
"In the case of education, modulation means movement from a social and human center
toward a more objective intellectual scheme of organization, always bearing in mind, however,
that intellectual organization is not an end in itself but is the means by which social relations,
distinctively human ties and bonds, may be understood and more intelligently ordered."

84
"Growth in judgment and understanding is essentially growth in ability to form purposes and to
select and arrange means for their realization."

"Intelligent activity is distinguished from aimless activity by the fact that it involves selection of
means--analysis--out of the variety of conditions that are present, and their arrangement--
synthesis--to reach an intended aim or purpose."

86-7
Scientific method and educational scheme connections
1. attaches more importance to ideas as ideas, not facts
2. ideas are tested by the consequences they produce; this means they must be carefully observed
3. must keep track of ideas, activities, and consequences (reflection & review)

Chapter 8

89 "For I am so confident of the potentialities of education when it is treated as intelligently

directed development of the possibilities inherent in ordinary experience that I do not feel it
necessary to criticize here the other route nor to advance arguments in favor of taking the route
of experience."

I wonder if I can use this quote in order to explore the significance or importance of physical
training in education.