Dewey opens his article What Education Is by arguing that we begin learning almost unconsciously at birth. Dewey theorizes that education is fundamentally “the stimulation of the child’s powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself” (93).  As a student in the 17th year of my education (not including K4 Preschool) I have often wondered what  education really is or what my education will amount to in my life. According to my dad, it was what was going to get me out of suburban life in Wisconsin. Getting a good education has always been a goal and an important part of my life as I have sought to work hard in school, but what is it that makes a good education? More importantly, what is education? Dewey seeks to address these inquires on a fundamental level in this article.

My approach to school has evolved throughout my years of learning. Looking back at the dozens of classes I have taken, my attitude towards learning in each class has been the key to how much I learned. I believe this is what Dewey is referring to when he states that the educational process has two sides; one psychological and the other sociological (93). The psychological side is what I would consider a student’s attitude towards learning. Dewey uses another word for it, “powers”.  Dewey says that the psychological side of education is the basis of the educational process. However, Dewey acknowledges that as humans we operate on a social level and that though we are usually  taught as individuals, society is made up of the union of individuals (94). Thus, the social aspect of education is just as important as the approach each student takes to their own education.

Nearly everyone has gone through a phase in their student career where school was a laboriously boring task. Perhaps, the issue was not the subject of study, but the mindset of the student and the approach taken towards learning. Learning inherently requires someone to discover new things that were unknown to them previously. Kurt Hahn calls learning” an expedition into the unknown”(EL Core Practices). This is an imaginative way to think about learning because it makes learning sound like an adventure.