The Education of John Dewey - a biography by Jay Martin - Essay Example

?The Education of John Dewey - a biography by Jay Martin John Dewey was known in the history of American literature as the premier reformer of the education system of the country.  In his lifetime he had written different works on pedagogy along with works on psychology, sociology, with certain works in the subject of Philosophy. The work of Martin Jay The Education of John Dewey is considered as the biography of the education reformer that sketches all facts of his life, starting from the birth and childhood days that he spent in the place of Burlington. The book depicts his education along with the choices of career he opted, to his university affiliations and other achievements of life. John Dewey was considered as one of the most ten important thinkers in the history of the country of America. This was of the many instances of popularity he achieved during his lifetime from his birth in the year 1859 till his death in 1952. The short hand word of Pragmatism identified his line of thinking conventionally. The body of thought as prescribed by the prominent thinker has been identified as one of the distinctive philosophy of the American society that had been ruling the philosophy of the country for the last fifty years. The work he had done for the education system of the society has still been famous and influential in recent period in the eve of the changing world and has been considerably famous for the worldwide system of education. According to him education is the immediate necessity of life. The ascendance of multiculturalism and that of independent thinking of individuals in the American pedagogy of the contemporary period was anticipated in the educational works that had been done by him in his lifetime. In the emerging democracies of the present world The University of Chicago Laboratory School that have been founded by him in the year 1896 has been a model for the schools and also in entire world of schools. John Dewey had well established himself as one of the eminent reformers of the education system of the country. He had focused on the idea of progressive education, which mainly focuses on the freedom of expression of the students along with the development of the theory of Humanistic that focused on the traditional base of the education for the higher studies (Martin 463). The movement of progressive education emphasized on attacking the established education system of the country from both inside and outside the establishment. However, according to some critics of the education philosophy of John Dewey, the philosophy had racial assumptions underlying it. The famous child centered education philosophy of John Dewey holds true for the American as well as the European American students but not for the African Americans. Apart from this criticism the educational thoughts propagated by him had been truly helpful for education of every society of the country. There was a need of continuous interaction of the classroom education of an individual along with experience of his real life. There is the need of students in continuously learning the use of the past experience of the individual along with the present one for the attainment of decisions intelligent enough in the future. Education of the individual is defined as the only process in achieving so. According to John Dewey harmonization of individuals with the people of the society, which is involved in the growth of the mental power of individuals, is the ultimate meaning of education. A democratic society in the country could only be evolved with the achievement of education with respect to the intelligence capacity of each individual of the society along with his or her own uniqueness. Dewey perceived democracy as a ‘“way of life” founded on a working belief in the possibilities of human nature and in the capacity of humans for “intelligent judgment and action” (Martin 438). He addressed the League for Industrial Democracy in 1931 and suggested the ban of Japanese commodities unless they receded their forces from the borders of China. He received the Blue Grand Cordon of the Order of the Jade award for his contributions towards the education system of the Chinese from the government of Guomindang (Martin 326). During the 30s one can find Dewey’s interests generated towards education especially after he has already found himself as the reputed spokesman of US who was frequently invited to deliver lectures and give interviews on education related concerns. Three upsurges of thoughts in United States made Dewey come back into the mainstream of education. These comprised of the assaults on “freedom of expression in the classroom”, “humanist” theory, which emphasized upon classical conventions introduced into the education system and the assaults on “progressive education” both on the exterior and the interior of the system (Martin 439). The book has been a collective work of the professional life of the John Dewey, the success he achieved in those along with the emotional feelings of the person and themes associated with his personal relations of being a father a son and husband. The work reflects a union of the professional thoughts and achievements of John Dewey along with the personal side of the person. It depicts the picture of his childhood along with his family as well as the experience of the philosopher in religious and relations of friendships. This is probably the first composition that contains the true life of John Dewey from his birth till his death in the year 1952. The original sources of the information contained in the book have been taken from the collection of the papers that remained unpublished in the center for Dewey studies. Thus this book can be said to be the first attempt made by Jay Martin in bringing up the life of the great philosopher of American history for the knowledge of the common people. Women had played very important role in the life of John Dewey. Mother of this great philosopher, his wife along with his daughter had significant contribution in the thinking and the success of the person. In fact Dewey had great faith in his wife Alice and her abilities due to which he recommended her as the principal of the school where he was teaching. However this was talked about and opposed by the faculty and the president Mr. Harper. His further interactions with Alice convinced him of her worth. However further controversies made Dewey resign with formal dignity from the School of Education. His children had important influence in his thoughts because his theories were often based upon his close study of Evelyn and Fred, his children. He focused on the psychological development of his children connected to their way of learning especially during development of vocabulary in their early years. His findings are reflected in his work The Psychology of Infant Language’ (Martin, 132). Apart from them, the reformer Jane Addams along with Anzia Yezierska, a renowned novelist of the contemporary period had importance in the life of John Dewey. The book has been an excellent tribute to the philosopher, the ‘master thinker’ and the social activist. It has been a complete reintegration of the personal life of John Dewey along with the themes relating to broader historical aspects of the life of the great thinker. (Martin; Margonis, 17; Fott, 7) A complete reflection of the strong emotions of the educationist as well as the philosopher could only make the book a true biography of the person of different colors. Family of John Dewey and his thoughts were the sources of happiness of his life as reflected in his words. Thus in order to make a complete portrait of the life of the individual attention on family of John Dewey was of ultimate importance. History has changed faces and color during the lifetime of John Dewey and he had learned to respond actively to the changes in the character of the society in which he was living. Being enmeshed in a significant part of the history of the country of America during the period, there is the need of complete reflection of the changing facets of history and his experience in the biography of the person. The inner capacities of John Dewey allowed him to be the person of many aspects. He was a renowned philosopher for the other philosophers of the contemporary period. The people engaged in those issues regarded him as the leading exponent in the education system of the country. He was also a controversialist for liberal thinking of the society along with an advocate of matters of public policy and affairs in the minds of the general public of the country. Martin calls the versatile aspects of Dewey as ‘the various angels of the single life’, which have been reflected, in his work. (Martin, 4) Though the various works, achievements and the success John Dewey had achieved in his ninety three years of life from his access in different fields is hard to be depicted thoroughly in a book of few pages but the biographer Jay Martin had made quiet a good attempt in reflecting every aspects of his life with main focus on the educationist thought of the individual. References Fott, David, John Dewey and the Mutual Influence of Democracy and Education, Review of politics, 2009, 71.1, 7-19, 25th May, 2011, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=112&sid=2b4679c0-e312-4c5f-a687-dbe0028dc644%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=43200240 Margonis, Frank, JOHN DEWEY’S RACIALIZED VISIONS OF THE STUDENT AND CLASSROOM COMMUNITY, EDUCATIONAL THEORY, 2009, 59.1 , 25th May, 2011, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&hid=112&sid=2b4679c0-e312-4c5f-a687-dbe0028dc644%40sessionmgr113 Martin, Jay, The Education of John Dewey, Columbia University Press, 2002      Read More