The ideas that are found in both EL Education: Core Practices and Dewey’s “My Pedagogic Creed” that I connect with the most are that education is the basis on which we, has humans, develop as members of the human community and that education is what forms us as either morally upright or reprehensible beings. Dewey’s Pedagogic Creed states
“I believe that – all education proceeds by the participations of the individual un te social consciousness of the race. This process begins unconsciously almost at birth, and is continually shaping the individual’s power, saturating his consciousness, forming his habits, training his ideas, and arousing his feelings and emotions. Through his unconscious education the individual gradually comes to share in the intellectual and moral resources which humanity has succeeded in getting together. He becomes an inheritor of the funded capital of civilization. The most formal and technical education in the world cannot safely depart from this general process.” Dewey (92-93)
Moreover, EL Education’s Core Principles states “Work to become ethical people” (VII) as a dimension of student achievement.
As I am a student of philosophy morality being paired with education is rooted into my own belief deeply. For example, I see this in my own experience with education. From a young age, I saw my parents methodically live in accordance to a specific philosophy. Additionally, both my mother and father believed in educating through literature and they often read me the great American writers (I.e. Emerson, Thoreau, and Franklin) as bed times stories. The example set by my parents through practicing their philosophy and demonstration with literature are the foundation of what I believe today. As anecdotal as my experience may be I still believe that it is representative of the validity of Dewey’s ideas. Logically, it makes sense that education is what can lead a person to being moral or ethical. If a person is exposed to only bad ideas then why would they have any reason or ability to challenge them. This is way it is essential for education to present good ideas to individuals.
HR: EL Education: Core Practices and Dewey’s “My Pedagogic Creed” (found in Philosophical Documents in Education handout)
Casey, reading through you’re take on Dewey was a pleasure. The careful consideration you placed into comparing you’re learning experience at VMI with Dewey’s take on education as a community triggered deeper thought regarding the subject matter for myself as a reader. Overall, incredible first post, and I eagerly anticipate where you’re blogging will go from here!
Casey,
Let there be no apology for anecdote. As Dewey believes, it is the process of reconstructing our experience through literature and other learning events that we become socially responsible beings, invested not just in ourselves but the lives of others. Stories often become the logic or mythos of a culture, and over time our interactions with these stories, even Thoreau and his pond, tell us something about ways to live. I hope that you will see the beauty and advantage of your literacy preparation as you find ways to connect with youth and think about their access to, or lack of philosophical conversations about what it means to live a good life. Continuity and interaction are Dewey’s principles, and EL’s principle, “the having of wonderful ideas” is our human nourishment, what we rely on for democratic debate.
MAJ Hodde