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Democracy And Education

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Democracy and Education by John Dewey is a publication of the Pennsylvania State University.

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Democracy and education.

John Dewey. Edited and with an introduction by Nicholas Tampio.

Columbia University Press

Pub Date: February 2024

ISBN: 9780231210119

Format: Paperback

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At the heart of John Dewey’s 1916 Democracy and Education is a concern with how to educate us for democratic citizenship—how to make us appropriately responsive to the world around us. Nicholas Tampio is the ideal philosopher to edit this new edition of Dewey’s magisterial text and help us understand its powerful and underappreciated legacy. This is a volume that will generate a great deal of energy, and it will do so at a time when the health of our own education for democracy in the United States and elsewhere is in doubt. Melvin L. Rogers, author of The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought

A new edition of Democracy and Education is timely, especially as renewed interest in Dewey’s work is growing around the world. Nicholas Tampio’s edition will help students and scholars alike navigate Dewey’s writing style and uncover complex ideas that continue to have applied significance in school and society today. Sarah Stitzlein, author of Learning How to Hope: Reviving Democracy Through Our Schools and Civil Society

After more than a hundred years, Democracy and Education is sprightly with Nicholas Tampio’s help,filled with insight that can and should guide future teachers, school leaders, education committees, and officers, as well as parents and guardians. This edition will be of great use to students and scholars of education, politics, and philosophy because of Tampio’s outstanding introduction of the work and its central themes and his insightful short statements at the start of each chapter. Eric Thomas Weber, editor of America’s Public Philosopher: Essays on Social Justice, Economics, Education, and the Future of Democracy

• Watch video of the author in conversation with David Hansen at the book launch event at Book Culture
• Read an op-ed at The Conversation about why John Dewey's vision for education and democracy still resonate today

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• Philosophy: Political Theory
• Political Science
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Reflections on the 100th year anniversary of John Dewey’s ‘Democracy and Education’

John Dewey [1859-1952] an influential philosopher, psychologist and educational thinker, published his book on Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education in 1916. One hundred years later what is the relevance of Dewey’s work in general, and this book in particular?

John Dewey [along with Lev Vigotsky and Jean Piaget ] is often considered as the father of constructivism . He believed that learning is a social, communal process requiring students to construct their own understanding based on personal experience.   “No thought, no idea, can possibly be conveyed as an idea from one person to another…..only by wrestling with the conditions of the problem first hand, seeking and finding his[her] own way out, does he [she] think.….the joy which children themselves experience is the joy of intellectual constructiveness.” [Dewey 1916, p166]

The importance of inquiry as an instructional approach

Dewey emphasised the importance of inquiry as an instructional approach and has become associated with the discovery of learning and child-centred, progressive teaching approaches. While he certainly believed education needs to connect learning to the real world experience of learners and be child-centred, he also emphasised the importance of a rigorous curriculum that developed powerful methodologies and knowledge. Dewey was uncomfortable with some of the more extreme progressive pedagogical approaches that became associated with his name.

Dewey believed developing intellectual powers is a necessary but not a sufficient goal of education. Schooling must equip young people to live a fulfilled life and become life-long learners, able to fulfil their potential and contribute to society. Dewey was alarmed that schools failed in this regard, promoting passive and compliant pupils rather than reflective, autonomous, informed decision makers. He believed one absolutely critical function of education is to develop the intellect, motivation and wisdom of young people so that they become ‘mature’ and effective citizens able to transmit culture from one generation to the next and transform it in the face of change: “What nutrition and reproduction are to physiological life, education is to social life.”

The link between democracy and education

What is particularly interesting about this book is the link Dewey highlights between democracy and education reflecting his advocacy of democracy.  Democracy is not only about extending voting rights, a big issue in 1916, but also equipping citizens with the ability to take on the responsibility to make informed, intelligent choices and decisions leading to the public good. He believed that democracy is not just a political system but an ethical ideal with active informed participation by citizens.. Established beliefs and theories should be critically questioned and revised in the light of developments, pragmatically evolving to meet the needs of changing times. If democracy is to work it required informed, knowledgeable and wise citizens and, therefore, education has a moral purpose. Classroom teachers and schools have a responsibility to nurture character as well as teach knowledge and skills.

Dewey stressed that education has to prepare students for an uncertain future and, therefore, a high priority should be given to developing effective habits and the ability to adapt and learn how to learn. This is notable given the fact that during his lifetime, with the notable exception of the great depression and two world wars, life for most people was comparatively predictable. Industrialisation and mass production meant many people had a job for life and emphasis in education was on preparing individuals for their respective roles in a fairly predictable workplace. The modern globalised world is by contrast highly unpredictable. Individuals often have little job security and multiple careers, and coping with uncertainty well has never been more important.

Teachers were viewed by Dewey as needing to be creative professionals demonstrating not only understanding of their subject matter but a passion for knowledge, intellectual curiosity, an understanding of the learning process and the children in their care. Dewey understood that excellent teachers responded quickly to student responses as indications of their current level of understanding, a direct consequence of constructivism.

Dewey’s understanding of constructivism as a theory explaining how deep learning happens, further developed by Vygotsky and others, has become the established paradigm. Consequences, now widely recognised, include engaging and challenging students, relating learning to experience and listening to the voice of the learner in order to understand students’ thinking and adjust teaching accordingly. Dewey’s concern that a focus on the learner’s interests needs to be balanced with the need to develop powerful knowledge and understanding continues to matter today in debates about how to organise the curriculum.

As we move into the uncertain global information age perhaps Dewey’s concern with the relationship between effective democracy and education is his most important lesson. It has never been more important to help the young cope with uncertainty well, to learn how to learn for life, and to understand that education is a moral enterprise concerned with developing informed citizens capable of making informed choices and decisions.

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Table of Contents

About the book, about the author.

John Dewey, philosopher and social critic, was the author of more than twenty books. He was a professor at Columbia University and a writer for The New Republic . He died in 1952. 

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• Publisher: Free Press (February 1, 1997)
• Length: 384 pages
• ISBN13: 9780684836317

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Democracy and Education

74 pages • 2 hours read

Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education

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Democracy and Education, written by American psychologist and philosopher John Dewey , was first published in 1916. This influential text advocates for undertaking public education reform to establish an authentically democratic society. In Dewey’s view, democracy is not just a form of government but a type of equal and reciprocal social relations. Dewey’s general trajectory in this work is to outline the connections between education, the self, the physical world, and society. This guide uses the Kindle edition released by General Press in 2022.

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The text comprises 26 subject-specific chapters, each of which is divided into subsections and is followed by a helpful summary. What unites them is Dewey’s overarching theme of the need for an integrated approach to public education available to all regardless of socioeconomic circumstances. Dewey begins by meticulously and systematically identifying and defining some key educational concepts, such as aim and interest , adding as he proceeds. He then uses the relevant terms throughout the text expecting the reader to retain this information. Stylistically, the phraseology of Democracy and Education is typical of the late 19th and early 20th-century texts on philosophy (e.g., including the frequent usage of the passive voice ).

In some cases, Dewey analyzes the historical origins of the relevant pedagogical concepts and traces their development to identify some of the problems with their application. For example, he investigates the impact that both ancient Greek philosophers and Enlightenment philosophers had on the realm of education. He also examines the work of key educational reformers of the 19th century such as Johann Friedrich Herbart and Friedrich Froebel and their relevance in the field of pedagogy .

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One of the impediments to establishing an educational system akin to Dewey’s ideal is the unequal social relations under modern capitalist conditions. Dewey examines the relationship between education, the ruling class, and the working classes throughout history under different systems of government: Athenian democracy with its strict hierarchic social structure, medieval European feudalism, and the development of social relations under capitalism, especially during the Industrial Revolution . Despite the push for greater political representation at the time of the text’s publication, socioeconomic inequalities were still reflected in the realm of education.

Dewey advocates for an integrated approach to education, in which formal studies are combined with activities (work and play) and have relevance to the student’s community and society at large. Making education part of the world outside the classroom and daily life—rather than a foreign, isolated process—will teach students how to think rather than what to think. Experience in the physical world and in society will be their guide because humans are social creatures. They will develop the type of critical thinking that they could apply to specific situations by using the scientific method of hypothesizing, observing, testing, and drawing conclusions. It is this type of thinking that makes for an autonomous individual. An ideal education also accounts for each student’s unique needs and interests to prepare the student for a fruitful life as an adult.

Democracy and Education is not a teaching manual. However, Dewey makes a number of suggestions to instructors. For example, he argues against teachers comparing students to each other and focusing on their specific needs and skills. He perceives teachers as guides offering direction and the relevant stimuli for students to proactively participate in their own education. He also discusses the moral component of education and its relationship to shaping one’s character.

Overall, the text provides insight into the historical development of current educational models and the improvements they may still require. 

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• John Dewey and Our Educational Prospect: A Critical Engagement with Dewey's Democracy and Education

In this Book

• David T. Hansen
• Published by: State University of New York Press

Table of Contents

• Frontmatter
• 1. Introduction: Reading Democracy and Education
• 2. “Of all affairs, communication is the most wonderful": The Communicative Turn in Dewey’s Democracy and Education
• 3. Curriculum Matters
• 4. Socialization, Social Efficiency,and Social Control: Putting Pragmatism to Work
• 5. Growth and Perfectionism? Dewey after Emerson and Cavell
• 6. Rediscovering the Student in Democracy and Education
• 7. Dewey’s Reconstruction of the Curriculum: From Occupation to Disciplined Knowledge
• pp. 113-127
• 8. A Teacher Educator Looks at Democracy and Education
• pp. 129-145
• 9. Dewey’s Philosophy of Life
• pp. 147-164
• 10. Dewey’s Book of the Moral Self
• pp. 165-187
• List of Contributors
• pp. 189-190
• pp. 191-195

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Ideology, nationalism, and education: the case of education reforms in the two Koreas

• Published: 18 May 2019
• Volume 20 , pages 295–304, ( 2019 )

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• Sun Kim 1 &
• Dong-Joon Jung 2  

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This research explores the influences of ideology and nationalism on education reforms in South and North Korea through a comparative historical analysis of education reforms during the transition period from Japanese colonialism to the period of US and Soviet military government control. Ideas of modern education and nationalism had already emerged among Koreans before 1945 when they achieved independence from Japanese colonization. In this sense, during the US and Soviet military regimes, education reforms were conducted in light of already existing efforts for nation-building by indigenous Korean leaders. The hopes and desires of the leaders of the two Koreas, as expressed by their adoption of new ideologies within the newly established military governments, represented a clear break from the past—be that Japanese colonialism or Confucian traditionalism—and a firm determination to change the present for the future in accordance with these ideologies. In the field of education, this change occurred with the introduction of John Dewey’s liberal educational philosophy to rebuild the education system in South Korea, and with the adoption of socialist educational philosophies such as polytechnicism and collectivism in North Korea.

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Reform Impact and Underlying Factors: A Changing Policymaking Process and Changing Education Policies in Japan

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An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 19th International Conference on Education Research held in the Seoul National University during October 17–19, 2018.

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Kim, S., Jung, DJ. Ideology, nationalism, and education: the case of education reforms in the two Koreas. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 20 , 295–304 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-019-09592-2

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Received : 25 April 2019

Revised : 26 April 2019

Accepted : 30 April 2019

Published : 18 May 2019

Issue Date : 01 June 2019

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-019-09592-2

An expat’s confession: Why I miss the city by the Amur – Khabarovsk

When a resident of Moscow or St. Petersburg hears from a foreigner that they think Khabarovsk is one of the most beautiful cities in the country, there’s usually one expression that is visible on his or her face – bewilderment! Not too many people from Western and Central Russia know much about the city by the Amur River.

View of Khabarovsk

How does a city that is an 8-hour flight or a week’s train journey from the Russian capital hold its own with the country’s celebrated historic towns and cities? The Russian Far Eastern city of 600,000 inhabitants is just 163 years old and is much closer geographically to Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo than it is to Moscow or St. Petersburg. But, perhaps, it’s this physical distance from the European part of the country combined with a sense of a strong Russian cultural identity that actually makes Khabarovsk unique.

The Chinese border on the Bolshoi Ussuriiski Island is less than an hour’s drive away, but one would not believe it when walking around the streets of Khabarovsk. Nothing in the city even hints of its geographic Asian location. Being one of the biggest cities of the Russian Far Eastern Federal District, plenty of care has been taken to tastefully restore and maintain its pre-Russian Civil War (1917-22) architecture. Take a walk down the main thoroughfare, the Muravyev-Amurskiy street and you can’t help but marvel at the buildings that remind you of “Old Europe”. 

A restored wooden beautiful house in the center of Khabarovsk

In fact, anyone familiar with St. Petersburg would just not be able to help himself from comparing Khabarovsk’s most famous street with the northern capital’s Nevsky Prospect. They both form the traditional heart of the old cities and lead straight to the riverfront. Dare I say that the Amur riverfront is more diverse and visually appealing than the embankment close to St. Petersburg’s Hermitage? This is on account of its special topography. There is a series of hills by the Amur from where you can get some fine views of the city, its sandy beach, an expanding skyline and the undisturbed opposite bank of the river.  

Cultural treasures

Petroglyphs on the stones on the bank of Amur river

This city was meant to be a hub of high culture and this is clearly visible in its museums and regional music and drama theaters. While Khabarovsk celebrates its Russian heritage, there is also a great deal of pride it takes in the traditions of its indigenous peoples. Travel 75 kilometers north and you’ll not just find 14,000-year old petroglyphs , but also a settlement and museum of the Nanai people. The original inhabitants of the eastern edges of Russia are small in number, but since the fall of the Soviet Union, there has been an increased and concentrated effort to save the language and heritage of the Nanai, Evenk, Nivkh and other ethnic groups.  

Khabarovsk railway station

Heritage and cultural treasures are everywhere you go in Khabarovsk. Hop on a 1950s tram and travel from the railway station (which was rebuilt in 1935) along the boulevards and main avenues of the city, through to its southern outskirts to see different architectural styles. You’ll cross red brick buildings, some of them dating back to the early 1900s, and move on to more colourful pre-Civil War buildings, nudging newer and modern structures and rebuilt cathedrals, before heading to an area, where Stalinist three-floor homes were built for those who were “more equal than others”.

Old Tram at the winter street of Khabarovsk

I usually hop off before the tram goes any further, since I’ve been told that the city’s ‘Pyataya Ploshadka’ neighbourhood has a notorious reputation. 

Blessed weather, cursed weather! 

Winter of 2019: It’s -30 degrees Celsius and I am being slapped silly on both cheeks by a bone-chilling wind and then I hear the following from a friend, born and raised in Khabarovsk: “You know, this is the mildest winter we have had in many years!” During that interesting winter of fluctuating degrees of cold, I travelled across the Tatar Strait to my old home, Sakhalin , where it was “just” 10 degrees below zero. I couldn’t help but think how stuffy it felt when I walked out of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk airport! I had forgotten about the extra layers of clothing I put on while leaving my apartment in Khabarovsk.  

Winter of 2019

There’s a saying in Khabarovsk that the only place where people go for winter walks is from store to store. Such is the bone-chilling cold. So, that same winter, armed with a few extra layers of clothes on me, I walked around the city’s beautiful and frozen artificial pond just about every evening. The only company I had was the odd dog running around, while its impatient owner waited for the animal to “do its job” and head back home. 

As cold as Khabarovsk is in the winter, it’s very sunny. Residents boast of it being the city with the third largest amount of sunlight in Russia. For a man from the tropics, where the sun is often seen as too strong and annoying, I smiled in amusement at this show of pride. But seriously, most Russian cities are beautiful in the summer and autumn when either the greenery or colourful foliage dominate the landscape, but Khabarovsk, with its lovely buildings, broad boulevards and avenues and large sodium-vapour lamps (no ugly white LEDs here yet), retains its beauty all year round, even in the winter. Of course, winter photography is a real challenge when you have to press the shutter button in such cold. Cameras and phones often freeze in that weather. 

The freezing winters are great for those who like to sled, ice skate and take part in other winter sports. Even those who don’t have a great sense of physical balance on ice can take a long walk on the frozen Amur and prepare tea over an open fire on the opposite bank of the river. Others drive further out of town and over the river to try out a whole series of innovative ice sports. 

The city’s Lenin Square is also a visual treat in the winters when it is home to a large number of ice sculptures. 

Enjoying the outdoors 

As in many other parts of the country, a Khabarovsk resident’s favourite pastime is complaining about the weather. Winters are too cold and summers are too hot! That’s right. It can be as hot and humid as Bangkok or Mumbai in Khabarovsk on a summer day, but it inevitably cools down at night when the fragrant flowers from the trees intoxicate you with an aroma that the finest perfumes of Europe can’t hold ground with. 

Outside the Khabarovsk Airport in 2017

Khabarovsk feels like a Mediterranean paradise in the summer. Locals bask in the sun and tan on the beach by the Amur. That is, those who have not made a beeline for the sea beaches of Primorye to the south. On the outskirts of the city, there is a series of peaceful lakes, some of those home to large lotuses.  

The monsoons manage to find their way up north through East Asia to Khabarovsk, so you can find yourself enjoying a sunbath by a tranquil lake one minute and getting terrorized by the most potent and aggressive mosquitoes on earth the next if the heavens open up! 

The fall is beautiful and colourful and the hills by the Amur turn yellow with a touch of red, orange and green. This is a great time to go hiking on Mount Khekhsir, which offers the best views of the spot where the Amur and Ussuri rivers split and Russia gives way to China. Keep in mind though that this is the habitat of the world’s largest tigers and these wild cats usually leave humans alone, but if they have a change of heart or a real appetite, they could use the fall camouflage to have you as a nice lunch, so be careful when you venture out! 

Summer of 2017

Also, keep in mind that these are some of the wildest forests in the country and more importantly, considered to be of highly strategic importance. Don’t be like an Indian man who got lost in these forests in the autumn of 2007 and only managed to get out the next day and back to civilization. He escaped the attention of tigers, leopards and bears by sheer luck, and took punishment from the security services and police with a smile. But not everyone may be so lucky.