John Dewey's Theory & Impact on Education

        John Dewey’s “Experience and Education” was difficult to read, yet very insightful look into progressive learning styles.

 

It is amazing that Dewey wrote this book in an era almost a century ago, but his views and ideas are still considered quite

 

innovative in today’s standards. Personally, I agree with a lot of the learner focused, democratic educational system ideas

 

that Dewey reveals in the book, and others I see the benefits, but am not fully convinced it is the best way to teach. In

 

today’s classrooms, we do find that experiential education is becoming more popular in charter schools, and signs of this

 

way of teaching can be found in some traditional classrooms, but it is still not the main approach that we use in classrooms

 

today. The majority of all public and private schools still stick to traditional standards of education and are driven by the

 

“ends justify the means” way of thinking. The goals of students today are to achieve high test scores, be accepted in to the

 

best colleges and have numerous jobs waiting for them when school is completed. These goals are great, but it is hard for

 

all students to meet each of these goals. Knowing this, it is even more important for all educators to look at Dewey’s

 

theories for progressive education to help fill the students with all they need to become a successful, functioning member

 

of the society we live in today.

 

        With my experience of teaching math to high school students for three years, I have realized that I used some of these

 

theories in my teaching strategies. As a teacher, my goal was to inspire my students to enjoy math. I wanted to not only

 

have them learn how to do the math problems that were required for class, but I wanted to show them how the process

 

they use in solving these math problems are the same processes they can use to solve any type problem dealt to them in

 

the world. Every situation and decision you make in life requires some thought and you will process all surrounding

 

information and come up with a result, just like a math problem. While I had these ideas to make math fun and exciting and

 

applicable to everyday life, I also had administrators down my back about following Marzano’s high-yield teaching (cookie-

 

cutter) strategies and helping the students acquire the exact set of skills necessary to move to the next grade. Yes, these

 

were important to meet for the sake of the job and have the children move onto the next grade, but the students only

 

wanted to learn what was on the test and would forget it the next day using this strategy.

 

        The fact still remains that all learners learn differently and we must use strategies as teachers to help each individual

 

student connect with the material the best way for each student. Some students shine using the traditional methods of

 

teaching and others struggle meeting the demands and expectations of traditional schooling. With Dewey’s strategies, I

 

believe that all students would have a better chance to succeed by allowing the students to have an opportunity to create

 

their own learning experience, and they would have a say in their education. While it sounds simple to say it that way, it also

 

requires a lot of organization and planning on the part of the teacher to make this type of learning environment work.

 

Dewey reminds us that thoughtful planning and organization by the educator will allow for flexibility for the learning

 

experience of the student, while maintaining a controlled learning environment by the teacher.

 

        Looking back on my experience as a teacher, it is tough to organize and plan an experiential learning lesson without

 

completely understanding the students and their learning abilities. I found that in some classes, I was able to have a great

 

experience using these experiential strategies, then in other classes we would completely miss the point of the lesson and

 

would have to use another strategy to get the point across. It was nice to have six periods each day because I could improve

 

from class to class seeing what worked and what didn’t teaching the topic to each class.  In the end, it still came down to

 

the fact that each student had a different learning style, and it was my job to find a way to reach each of them all in a timely

 

manner.

 

        The idea of a democratic learning environment in high school was challenging at times because giving the students too

 

much control may be more detrimental than beneficial. I enjoyed having each student give their own personal perspective

 

on things in the classroom and would always try to correlate some of the ideas the students mentioned to what we were or

 

would be learning in class. I always used the statement that “the only dumb question/comment is the one you don’t ask.”

 

Even if there was a question or statement that was a bit off the wall, I would always find a way to spin a positive response

 

to the comment. The important thing while leading in the classroom is to allow for discussions to go where the students

 

want them too, but make sure that everything is carefully guided to keep the experience positive and focused.

 

        I feel that the balance between traditional education and experiential education will always have their troubles in

 

secondary education. Until administrators and school executives are able to change their views, expectations and

 

standards in education, we will be stuck in this traditional, stale learning environment. Fortunately, adult education

 

(especially in the AET program) has a chance to use Dewey’s progressive style of education due to the reasons that adults

 

come back to school. Adults come back to school by choice, and in most cases, they are expecting a different learning

 

experience than their previous experience in school.

 

        As a former educator and current learner, I believe that Dewey’s philosophies make perfect sense in today’s society.

 

Growing up, I went through the traditional education system, and was fortunately successful in this type of environment.

 

With times changing and me going back to school now, students want to be able to have a say in what and how we learn. If

 

we are involved in the process of deciding these two factors, we will be much more involved and dedicated to what we are

 

learning. As an adult learner, different from secondary education, I am choosing to come back to school in hope that my life

 

experiences will be to my advantage and help me grow as a learner. With a learner centered environment, similar to the

 

one in the AET program, we are able to get exactly what we want out of our education and can immediately apply it to our

 

daily lives because they are directly related.