Dewey bookends chapter 14 with two concerns related to current issues in education. First. he notes that the chief concern of education is to instruct the young in a society to carry on the life of the community. In more primitive societies, the "curriculum" for this was quite simple. The advent of reading and writing, advanced communication and mobility not only expanded the circle of the curriculum, but also tended to stretch the connection between subject matter and the student's community, making it seem as if knowledge was more and more independent of the local context--or any context. Clearly, the nature of information in today's online world exacerbates this situation. This suggests it is not just about too much information, but also about too little context for that information. What is the relationship of all the events that cross our television or computer screen to our own lives. What is our responsibility toward them? Earthquakes, failing brakes, fires, legislation, to say nothing of Octomom or Tiger Woods...are they just curiosities or do they connect?
Dewey ends chapter 14 by recognizing that the first responsibility of schools in a democratic society is to address whatever it considers to be the "essentials" (p. 158). What he laments is limiting that choice to what is essential preparation for getting a livelihood--a diminished perspective which "must signify for most men and women doing things which are not significant, freely chosen, and ennobling to those who do them; doing things which serve ends unrecognized by those engaged in them, carried on under the direction of others for the sake of pecuniary reward" (p. 158). The result is to create a kind of parasitic mass on society rather than a community with social responsibility and interest in the most challenging issues that face humanity. As James would say, an interest and capacity to pursue one's philosophy for life.
No comments:
Post a Comment