Dewey And Education Essay

Dewey (2009) wrote, “It would be most desirable for the school to be a place in which the child should really live, and get a life-experience in which he should delight and find meaning for its own sake” (p. 42). As an educator, it is important to realize that academics alone do not lead to success in life. Dewey explained that education and schooling are not synonymous, asserting that some types of schooling can actually be miseducative and detract from true learning. However, when students are given the power of active problem-solving and learning through experience, they can truly comprehend the reality of their learning and have it remain with them even after their schooling is completed.
Most people believe that the main purpose of schooling is for children to learn subjects. Ordinary schools are based upon “adult conception of what a child should be and how a child should learn” (Neill, 2010, p. 134). Schools are often a place controlled by an authoritarian figure whose concern for a subject is far greater than the concern for educating the individual student (McKeachie, 1997). Many educators give little …show more content…
Yet this is an erroneous belief. While there may be a few students who can learn through books, most need material presented in a way that is conducive to positive learning. The roles of teaching and learning are intertwined. Teachers affect learners and learners affect how the teachers think. Dewey (2009) explained, “Knowledge is actively moving in all the currents of society itself” (p. 29). Because knowledge is constantly changing, the situation and context will affect the learning. The student must actively learn the material, and the teacher must be around to help the student with the learning. The teacher determines “’what,’ ‘how,’ and ‘how much’ a student studies” (McKeachie, 1997, p. 397) and can affect whether the learning experience is positive or