The Educational Philosophy of Neil Postman and John Dewey

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Postman says that if education is to survive, it must have an end. In this essay, we will discuss what these ends are, and how they compare with the “ends” of John Dewey. Dewey believes that it is the very nature of life is to strive to continue being alive, and that education is the most important way to achieve that. Postman says that the learning process should never really ever end. These two educational philosophers, when you examine them, actually have similar theories.

Neil Postman says “To put it simply, there us no surer way to bring an end to education, than for education to have no end”(Postman,4). This is the main idea that Postman bases his whole book on. To actually ever stop learning, is the only way to actually end the process of education. Postman thinks that our youth, the parents, and the teachers all must have a “god” or several “gods” to work for. A “god “ or a purpose is something that we should take very seriously, and should use it to reach our goals. Postman belive that there are these gods for whom we work for, but that in our culture today most of our gods fail. These failed gods or “false gods” are what direct us to the end, according to Postman.

There are four gods in Postman’s theory that are part of these “False” gods that lead us to and end. Technology, economic utility, consumership, and separatism are the four gods which we work to achieve. Postman says that to achieve economic utility, we go to school to establish a secure career so that we will be able to provide for ourselves, and our family. He thinks that in our society, it is morally important to buy things to be happy, which is his god of consumership. Postman believes that people think that they are not as good as someone else unless they have the same material things. Separatism or “Multiculturalism” is the god that postman believes brings to to an finalized end. Postman believes that it is tribalistic thinking and that through emphasis on ethnicity and learning about different cultures we become actually separate. Instead of pointing out the differences between one ethnicity and another, we should just be who were are as a culture.

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