WWJD?: Who Was John Dewey?

John Dewey is the founder of the educational and philosophical movement known as pragmatism. This mustachioed gentleman believed that there were problems with the Western education system. So being the innovator that he was, he just went off and made his own system.

What he came up with was a model of education which focused on how to live with and be a part of change. Previously, the education system tried to exist solely within the mind, not realizing that the events were going on around them and possibly even because of them.

He noted three characteristics of nature, which he called the "precarious", the "histories", and the "ends".


The Precarious is any event that might eventually pose a problem. Really it's just anything that can set other things in motion, regardless of whether it's positive or negative.

History is meant to mean a pattern of change with an outcome that comes as a result of the Precarious which can easily be predicted.

But just being able to see what is probably going to happen is pretty much useless unless you decide to do something about it, right? And so that brings us to his last bit: the Ends. He described the Ends as being a deliberate outcome of the History.

This is the central idea behind his new form of education. Constant fluctuation in order to stay on top of things. Being able to roll with the punches is key in a modern, rapidly changing world. Therefore he promoted a democratic attitude, as that is the most readily changing form of government, given that it can change as fast as people need or want it to change.

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When someone says that something is pragmatic, what do they mean? They mean it's of or relating to pragmatism, but what they really mean is "That sounds useful." So that's really what it comes down to. You're using a system whose entire focus is on finding usefulness in an environment. Of course that's going to be a good system to teach. Without it, we might as well still be teaching like the Greek philosophers, perpetually naval-gazing.


-J

Sources:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/160445/John-Dewey
http://infed.org/mobi/john-dewey-on-education-experience-and-community/