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John Dewey And Traditional Education

Satisfactory Essays

Through reading the theories of John Dewey, it’s become clear that his primary concern was that the traditional education model that was available in his time-period; which schooled students in basic subject matter, however, did not take on the task of teaching problem solving techniques. Thus, the students had no real way to deal with actual problems due to their lack of education in the subject matter. This phenomena in education is not something of just Dewey’s time, it continues throughout our school system to date. I’ve chosen to take on the daunting task of explaining John Dewey’s thoughts surrounding experiential learning.
Dewey saw through his own time spent as an educator that the traditional education methods weren’t effective. …show more content…

“…there was continual training of observation, of ingenuity, constructive imagination, of logical thought, and of the sense of reality acquired through first-hand contact with actualities (Dewey, School and Society, pg. 8). I see this as an issue to date—with our now ever-changing cyber world, one that in many ways is shaped by the internet and technology, how do we keep education relevant to tools youth need today? How do we find the mix of static knowledge needed as well as experiential learning to help ensure
Dewey was insistent that this new theory of experience wasn’t simply about being opposition to the current way of learning, rather it was merited on its own rite and needed to ensure educational success for our children and society as a whole. Progressive education as it stood, was reactionary and provided freedom without knowing how or why freedom can be useful within the realm of education. Dewey felt that experiential education must be a theory which was developed rigorously, not just experience for the sake of experience. “The problem of an education based upon experience is to select the kind of present experiences that live fruitfully and creatively in subsequent experiences” (Dewey, School and Society, pg. 28). In order to accomplish this, educators must understand the nature of experience for humans. There has to be principles which helped to guide this model—including those of continuity and of interaction.
Continuity as a

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