John Dewey's Role Of Education In Social Reform

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John Dewey was born in 1859 and dies in 1956 after having pioneered on of the early educational project in America. Most of Dewey’s works indicate that he was one of the key educational reformers who advocates for educational democracy noting that educational reform would be necessary for achieving social reform and progress. His argument in favor or progressive education and liberalism showed that to Dewey, democracy in education, social theory as well as educational reform were synonymous to him and were necessary for developing a progressive society. Through his University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, it was clear that educational reconstruction was important for the society to have an ideal future. In this paper, Dewey project is considered …show more content…

His pedagogic creed was that Education is "the fundamental method of social progress and reform. However, he also pointed out that education should not only focus on producing intellectual and moral changes but should also be oriented towards attitude and behavior change. The school alone cannot guarantee a change in the social order, but it provides the impetus necessary for the change. As such, the children can be the tools through which education is used to change the social order (Kipton, 2013, pp.129-137) Changing the Social Circumstances: Even though the social circumstances may be different for both urban and rural children, it is the school that is tasked with providing a level ground for both children to learn. However, with the current education system, the children in the rural areas are left out, and the protracted difference last into adulthood and naturally affects the society. Most of the rural children are either from the low SES families or are migrant children. As such they do not have access to the same facilities enjoyed by those children in urban areas. The current education system is not inclusive and does not focus on understanding the reason for the high school dropout rate (Dewey, &, Thomas, 2013, pp.

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