Education After Dewey

315 Pages·2009·2.77 MB·English

by  Paul Fairfield

Education
After Dewey
PAUL FAIRFIELD
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BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
ISBN:978-1-4411-4586-4(hardcover)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Fairfield,Paul,1966-
EducationAfterDewey/PaulFairfield.
p.cm.
ISBN978-1-4411-4586-4(hardcover)
1. Education--Philosophy.2. Education--Aimsandobjectives.3.Education,
Humanistic.4. Dewey,John,1859-1952. I.Title.
LB14.7.F332009
370.1--dc22
2009012059
TypesetbyKennethBurnley,Wirral,Cheshire
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainby...
Chapter 1
Contents
ANoteaboutReferences vii
Introduction:AnEnigmaticTransition 1
Part1:TheEducativeProcess
1 BeyondProgressivismandConservatism 13
2 Dewey’sCopernicanRevolution 52
3 WhatIsCalledThinking? 101
Part2:EducationintheHumanSciences
4 TeachingPhilosophy:TheScholasticandtheThinker 149
5 TeachingReligion:SpiritualTrainingorIndoctrination? 183
6 TeachingEthics:FromMoralismtoExperimentalism 210
7 TeachingPolitics:TrainingforDemocraticCitizenship 233
8 TeachingHistory:ThePastandthePresent 257
9 TeachingLiterature:LifeandNarrative 280
Index 305
For Gwyneth Fairfield
Chapter 1
A Note about References
All references to John Dewey’s texts are from The Collected Works, 1882–
1953, edited by Jo Ann Boydston and published by Southern Illinois
University Press. In the endnotes, EW refers to The Early Works, 1882–
1898 (5 volumes), MW refers to The Middle Works, 1899–1924 (15
volumes),andLWreferstoTheLaterWorks,1925–1953(17volumes).
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Introduction
An Enigmatic Transition
The crucial matter in education is the transition from relative ignorance to
a condition as difficult to attain as to describe theoretically: intellectual
agency,maturity,emancipation,or,moremodestly,beinginformedareafew
possibilities.Educationisthenameforthistransitionortransformation,the
ambiguityofwhichhaslongbeenatopicoftheoreticalreflection.Indescrib-
ingthelearningprocess,Platofirstemphasizedthedifficultyofleadingthe
mindfromtheworldofillusionthatisitsoriginalabodetoenlightenment.
His account of this process was couched in epistemological and metaphysi-
caltermsthatnolongerwarrantbeliefevenasthestoryofthecaveitselfand
theprisoners’gradualintroductiontotheworldaboveretainsaspecialrele-
vance, as a metaphor at least. This should not surprise us; metaphorical
interpretationsoftenshedlightinawaythatliteralandtheoreticalproposi-
tions do not, particularly when what we would describe is as ambiguous as
the nature of the educative process and the aims that guide it. Our goal in
thisstudyistounderstandthisprocess.Itisaprojectthatwillnotsucceedif
weoverlookthisambiguityorinsistonreducingittozero,fortheambiguity
of education directly reflects that of human experience in general. It is a
qualitythatwemustcopewithandendeavortoclarify,butgainingclarityhas
its limits when the thing itself is no mere technical puzzle but belongs
fundamentallytoourexperienceoftheworld.
Several possibilities suggest themselves, some more metaphorical than
others,inspeakingofthistransition:frombondagetoliberation,illusionto
enlightenment, ignorance to the truth, nature to culture, immaturity to
maturity, possessing less information or skills to more, and so on. Each
succeeds in some measure in illuminating the phenomena of teaching and
learning. In thinking about education we are often tempted to select one
suchphraseandsetitupasamodeltowhicheverythingcanbereduced,but
if the object of inquiry is itself multidimensional, so as well must be our
account of it. It is here that reductionist theories run aground: deeming
clarityandsimplicitycardinalvirtuesoftheorizingingeneral,theyreduceall
richness and complexity to artificial simplicity and so misunderstand the
object.Thisremainsacommonfailingofeducationaltheories.Ontheside
of the individual, education represents a transformation of perspective that
1
2 Introduction
in one fashion or another raises the mind to a condition of some higher
kind, or kinds. It informs and transforms in about equal measure, depend-
ingonthesubjectmatter,thestageofthelearningprocess,andavarietyof
otherfactors.Onthesideofthesocial,educationinitiatestheyoungintoa
tradition; it produces acculturation and makes it possible for the younger
generation to participate in the ways of an historical community. The indi-
vidual and the social dimensions of education are themselves inseparable,
addingfurthertoitscomplexity.Thispracticealsohasanunmistakablepolit-
ical dimension, is often difficult to distinguish from indoctrination, draws
upon an underdeveloped and often reductive understanding of human
psychology,andhaslongbeentheplaygroundofsocialengineersandenthu-
siasts of every possible kind, all of whom maintain that the solution to our
problems is to mold the young in accordance with whatever opinions they
holddear.Nopracticeisasvulnerableaseducationtopoliticalorscientific
fashion, its practitioners continually pulled this way and that by the latest
findingsinthesocialsciencesaswellasbyeconomicimperativesandsocietal
trendsthathavelittletodowiththecultivationofintellectualmaturity.Edu-
cationalmeddlingbyanendlessarrayofthewellmeaningbutmisinformed
remainsascommonplaceinourtimesasinanyother,theeffectofwhichis
not only, and not primarily, to educate the mind but to produce a certain
formofsubjectivity:workers,consumers,orbelieversofonekindoranother.
A consequence of scientific and philosophical theorizing, social forces
andeconomicpressures,aswellasthecomplexitiesalreadyinherenttothe
learningprocess,isacertainlackoforientationonthepartofeducators,or
an orientation beset by contradictions. Educators are charged with deliver-
inga curriculumthey have littleor nopartinselecting,preparingstudents
for standardized tests produced by ostensible experts, training a workforce,
preserving traditions, managing behavior, instilling values, acting as role
models and therapists, applying techniques and research findings while
raising standards as governments understand or misunderstand the phrase.
Educationtodaycanbelikenedtoasoupover-richiningredients:everynew
cook in the kitchen adds a pinch of this and a dash of that until at last the
concoctionhaseverythinginitbutflavor.Cooks,topushthemetaphorabit,
typically do not see their customers, while those responsible for serving up
thetastelessbrewknowverywellhowitisgoingover,yetneitherservernor
customerhasanysayastoitscomposition.Bythetimethereviewsreachthe
kitchen,therecipehaschangedyetagainalongwiththecook.Thesituation
is different for university professors, of course, who have long and jealously
guarded their autonomy in the classroom, but teachers at the primary and
secondary levels have found their status as professionals severely compro-
mised as the scope for independent judgment diminishes. Teachers faced
with these conditions may be forgiven for being bewildered, caught as they
An Enigmatic Transition 3
are in the maelstrom of empirical studies and social realities, politics and
religion, philosophy and other philosophies, psychology and other psy-
chologies,andlackingtheautonomypropertoanyprofessionaltoformand
actontheirownjudgment.
The real world of education is a miscellany of often irreconcilable aims,
imperatives,andfashions,manyofwhichareextraneoustothepracticeand
simply imposed from without, and all of which individual educators must
squareinsomeprecariouswaywiththerealitiesoftheclassroom.Togetour
bearingswemustgainamoreexplicitunderstandingofthetransitionnoted
aboveandtheprinciplesthatbelongtoit.Thereis,asIshallargue,alogic
that is always already inherent to the educative process. The philosopher’s
taskistorenderthislogicordynamicexplicitandtoidentifyitsimplications.
Itisalsotocritiqueapproachestoeducationthateffectivelyunderminethis
logiceitherbypursuingmeansthatnegatethepractice’sownaimsorbysub-
stitutingextraneousends,acommonoccurrenceatpresentifitisnotindeed
auniversalphenomenon.
Likeanysocialpractice,educationcontainsitsownimmanentconditions
and ends which can be undermined when pursued by improper means or
when conflicting aims supplant them. The temptation toward the latter is
greatandcertainlynotlimitedtoourowntimeandplace.Theclassroomwill
remain the playground of politicians and social engineers, religionists and
enthusiasts,socialscientistsandphilosophers,sometimesforthebetterand
sometimesnot.Whentheyareforthebetter,sucheffortsrecognizeakindof
integrity – an integration of principles – inherent to the learning process,
principles that must be identified and implemented if the practice is to
succeed. When for the worse, these efforts reduce education to a mere
meanstoanend,usuallyanenddefinedintermsofeconomics,politics,or
religion.
Whatever education is at the most fundamental level of analysis, it is not
merely a means to an end. While it has always been known that a good
education prepares one for a career and for later life in general – whether
directlyorindirectly,byintentionorbyaccident–itsmeaningisnotlimited
to this. In particular, it is not limited to economic utility. There is a higher
purpose that education serves, as Plato taught us to see even while mis-
describingthispurposeorconstruingitincrude,metaphysicalterms.
Tounderstandthenatureandpurposeofeducationwemustviewitinthe
larger context of human experience. The philosophical concept of experi-
ence provides the most appropriate point of view from which to interpret
ourthemeforthereasonthatthetransitionthateducationessentiallyisisa
transition in our experience of ourselves and our world. Beyond having
acquired a certain amount of information, the educated mind possesses a
capacity for experience that is richer and more expansive than its less