Comparing Dewey's Views On The Goal Of Education By Fishman And Mccarthy

In this essay, Fishman and McCarthy describe Dewey’s views on the goal of education and on what teachers should teach their students. He issued his challenge to teachers in 1932, as the United States faced a major economic depression and as Hitler and Nazi Germany was rising to power. He felt that education should provide students with the tools to be exemplary citizens in society to help the others and give towards the general good as well as find their own happiness. It is the job of the teacher to help their students develop character and morality. Teachers should prepare their students to be sympathetic and empathetic. Students must learn how to look at situations with different perspectives and to participate in a diverse community. The development of character and the idea of integrating feeling and thought were so crucial to Dewey that he believed that as much time should be devoted to researching character and moral education as time devoted to academic subjects.
Dewey firmly believed in the idea of “ethical love”, which is basically the dynamic harmony between ethics and love, or reason and emotion. …show more content…
MLK also discusses the importance of education cultivating intelligence and character in students. MLK wrote his essay in response to troubling things he witnessed, which Dewey also did, responding to corruption, war, brutality and manipulation going on in the world. MLK used Talmadge as an example of a man that was highly educated and credential, but who was morally inept and unjust in order to highlight the importance of having both intelligence and a moral code. Similarly, Dewey used Nazism as his example. Nazism was a large and efficient organization that involved cooperation, creativity and social reform, which were good qualities according to Dewey. However, Nazism lacked the sympathy and empathy that would have prevented such a movement from happening in the first