Tending My Flowers!

This week in EDU 100 we have been learning and discussing various Educational Philosophies. The man of the hour today is Mr. John Dewey himself! This video gives a nice overview of Dewey's life for those of you who would rather listen than read!

John Dewey- "When customs are flexible and the youth is educated as youth and not as premature adulthood, no nation grows old." 

Born in 1859 John Dewey, was an American philosopher who was a "leading proponent of the American school of thought known as pragmatism." Pragmatism is "a philosophical movement that includes those who claim that an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily, that the meaning of a proposition is to be found in the practical consequences of accepting it, and that unpractical ideas are to be rejected." In a more education context, Pragmatism is the belief that the universe is dynamic and evolving and that the purpose of thought is action and truth is relative. It focused on learning through experience. The goal was to teach students to be problem solvers so that when they are faced with an obstacle, they have to tools to overcome that obstacle. Students would make decisions based on the consequences of their actions. It is a contemporary view on education. Dewey believed that students learned by experiencing things. When we teach them as youths instead of prepping them for adult life after school, they are going to get more out of their education. Now, I agree with Pragmatism. I do think students benefit more from experiences.During instruction, teachers even call upon past experiences and background knowledge to help learn new material. This shows that experience is a key component of education. 

After I read about The Banking Concept, I knew right away that  Dewey would not agree with the concept. The Banking Concept is basically about how students are banks in which teachers deposit information. The teachers teach and the students are taught. The teachers discipline and the students are disciplined. (Sounds pretty oppressive, doesn't it?) The Banking Concept holds more of a Realism philosophy, where reality exists independent of the human mind and that physical things are the ultimate reality. In The Banking Concept, Paulo Freire says "The teacher talks about reality as if it were motionless, static compartmentalized, and predictable." The teaching method for realism is that you teach for mastery of facts and basic skills. The Banking Concept is more of a traditional and conservative philosophy, which is on the other end of the spectrum, far from Dewey's ideology. This concept was designed before we realized that every student is different and learns differently. Not every student is receptive to learning that way. The Banking Concept may have worked in the past, but in today's education The Banking Concept is one that has proven to be ineffective. 

As a teacher, we are able to develop our own philosophies and our own learning theories. However if they aren't geared for the student, then our instruction isn't going to be effective. 

Sources:

http://www.iep.utm.edu/dewey/

http://www.iep.utm.edu/pragmati/

http://deweycenter.siu.edu/about_bio.html