
In praise of Dewey - wallflower
https://aeon.co/essays/dewey-knew-how-to-teach-democracy-and-we-must-not-forget-it
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spodek
One of my favorite observations from John Dewey is that children constantly
ask questions... except in the classroom. It's worth thinking about for a
while and what it says about our goals in education.

What are we doing that where we want people to learn we create an environment
to make active and curious people passive and non-curious?

I expected I would like teaching when I started. Since learning about Dewey
and his legacy and concluding that I would not lecture or give tests, I love
teaching. Most of my students say they've never taken a course like mine and
want to know how they can take more.

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cafard
Diane Ravitch's book _The Uncertain Crusade_ has an interesting chapter on the
rise and decline of "progressive education." Dewey himself was not happy with
all that went under that name. Based on the little I have read of Dewey, his
model of a school demanded better and better-trained teachers than what it
aimed to replace. However, given how vaguely he wrote, he could hardly blame
others for misunderstanding.

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maxlybbert
We should politicize education. That will end well.

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chris_st
How about we educate politicians?

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maxlybbert
I just found it surprising that the article immediately had to draw political
lines. As if nobody could enjoy learning about Dewey unless they first knew
who was good and who was evil, and why they're evil.

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maitredusoi
In France Dewey influenced Freinet :
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9lestin_Freinet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9lestin_Freinet)

