Social Control

Of the chapters we just read I really appreciated what Dewey had to say about Social Control.
I've had several teachers at UVU who refuse to sit at the front of the classroom because they don't want to be dictators of the educational experience. One of my philosophy professors actually taught a whole class from underneath a desk because he didn't like how everyone forced him into being the focal point of the room. It's a little extreme, but I really appreciated his decision to make the space shared instead of trying to dominate it. Dewey comments on this idea, he says that the educator needs to arrange conditions that are conducive to community activity. When I read that I immediately thought of my professor, under his desk, teaching us about Nietzsche and not following societal norms. Fitting, right?
Another part of this chapter deals with the balance between being firm and flexible in planning experiences. There has to be a time when students have to reflect and have to find purpose in what was experienced, but it can't be forced either. Balancing freedom and progress can be tricky, but when it is accomplished, real learning takes place. Those are the moments that change the perspective of the student, when they think something through in a new way, when the experience hits home.
Personally, I'm not much of a lecturer, I'm not a strong speaker, but I love getting discussions going. It's way more interesting for everyone. Now that I think of it, I don't love lectures either. It's best just to avoid being an 'external boss' and work on our 'leader of group activities' skills.

Continuity

First of all, I really like how Dewey identifies and explains the problems with traditional education. I especially relate to page 18 where he talks about education being imposed from the top down and from the outside in. He says that the students don't have enough experiences in their bags to incorporate a lot of the new ideas in meaningful ways, so they just have to accept what gets thrown at them. That is definitely what happened to me in my sixth grade pre-algebra class. Order of operations?! I remember having a hard time accepting that because I didn't get how it related to anything I had previously learned. My teacher just kept repeating "be sponges to new information" to answer our blank stares.
I think continuity is key. Two quotes I like are "Every experience is a moving force"
(38) and "experience does not happen in a vacuum"(40). Education is active, if it is progressive. Mis-educative experiences don't get reflected upon or applied in future situations. That doesn't mean that they couldn't have been highly educative experiences, but it does mean that the way the experience was presented or approached neglected the learner. All our past experiences have an effect on our present experiences and our present experiences will sort of condition our future experiences. It's a neat, almost timeless, theory.
It is important to see that Dewey does give some credit to traditional education. He says that they do provide experiences of the students. There are opportunities. But, he says that we have to know that they aren't based on a philosophy of education nor of experience. That is limiting and dry because it doesn't drive the educators to see the students for the required material.
Life should be about learning, finding, experiencing. That can be accomplished in a myriad of ways. Remembering that it is not an either/or deal helps me to see that I earn valuable education at school, at work, at home and anywhere else I might happen to be at the moment.