Dewey on our current climate

John Dewey, a leading thinker on education and educational philosophy during early 1900s, is known for being extremely quotable. In education, his writings still ring true today. Searching through his quotes, one would think Dewey is a current leader in an education reform movement.

In his essay, "The Need for a Philosophy of Education" (originally published in 1934), Dewey is unsurprisingly prescient in calling for a learner-centered model of education. He suggests we focus on finding what works for the learner, "to discover... just what materials and methods will serve to evoke and direct a truly educative development." (emphasis his). Because of the focus on the individual student, he is against a prescribed curriculum. He does not see an end to a subject-focused curriculum, however. His focus is on flexibility: 

What is needed in the new education is more attention, not less, to subject-matter and to progress in technique. But when I say more, I do not mean more in quantity of the same old kind. I mean an imaginative vision which sees that no prescribed and ready-made scheme can possibly determine the exact subject-matter that will best promote the educative growth of every individual young person...

But what struck me most while reading the essay is how surprisingly accurate Dewey is with regard to the importance of education to creating a better society. Writing a few years before the outbreak of WW2, he mentions the current state of the world: 

... with the unprecedented wave of nationalistic sentiment, of racial and national prejudice, of readiness to resort to the ordeal of arms to settle questions, that animates the world at the present time. The schools of the world must have somehow failed grievously or the rise of this evil spirit on so vast a scale would not have been possible… Who could have dreamed that the demon of fear, suspicion, prejudice and hatred, would take possession of men’s minds in the way it has done?

His thoughts are incredibly relevant to what is happening today, particularly current political discourse. Dewey places the blame for the past (current?) climate squarely on eduction, for failing to place a focus on the betterment of humanity. In fact, he believes that a focus on competition, rather than community, fuels nationalism, prejudice, and suspicion. 

But unless this end [education and gaining skills] is placed in the context of services rendered to others, skills gained will be put to an egoistic and selfish use, and may be employed as means of a trained shrewdness in which one person gets the better of others. Too often, indeed, the schools, through reliance upon the spur of competition and the bestowing of special honors and prizes, only build up and strengthen the disposition that makes an individual when he leaves school employ his special talents and superior skill to outwit his fellows without respect for the welfare of others.

The cause of, but also the solution to, these problems lie within education, according to Dewey. Specifically, he would like to focus on "knowledge [being] a possession held in trust for the furthering of the well-being of all." He wants schools to explicitly teach for the betterment of society and the world. Lessons should include collaboration, real-world problems, and introduce empathy in order to motivate students to want to create a better world. Sound familiar?

In closing, Dewey also provides a warning. 

Unless the schools of the world can engage in a common effort to rebuild the spirit of common understanding, of mutual sympathy and goodwilll among all peoples and races, to exercise the demon of prejudice, isolation and hatred, the schools themselves are likely to be submerged by the general return to barbarism, which is the sure outcome of present tendencies if they go on unchecked by the forces which education alone can evoke and fortify.

While we, despite his warnings, did not descend into barbarism (though perhaps WW2 fits exactly into his idea), it is clear that change is needed. Throughout this reading, I had one question in mind: how do we not only empower students to make positive change in the world, but motivate them to want to?