John Dewey and Charles Prosser were both instrumental figures in American educational philosophy and pedagogical theory. Both Dewey and Prosser were pragmatists, but each proposed a fundamentally different function for public education. Dewey stressed the importance of education for fostering civic duty and promoting democracy; Prosser remained more concerned with the role education would play in preparing children for vocational careers. Although both Dewey and Prosser believed education should be applicable to daily life, Dewey believed that Prosser's focus on vocational education might inhibit intrinsic motivation and the development of a person's natural interests, thereby artificially channeling children into specific career paths (Wonacott, 2003). Dewey believed that vocational education presented a danger of becoming too "rote, mechanical, and slavish," (Wonacott, 2003, p. 6). As Labaree (2010) points out, Dewey "lost" the philosophical debate over the role of education as Prosser helped to pass the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, which ensconced vocational education into American society (p. 163). However, Dewey did not lose the debate entirely, as his foundational educational philosophies laid the foundation for liberal arts education in America.
Prosser believed that education was becoming dangerously close to becoming elitist in the sense that it tended to prepare students more for academia and its cerebral . Education is made meaningful through social connections and personal engagement with the material and environment.
Whereas Dewey remained concerned with the way education could or should improve the student's ability to participate fully in civic society, Prosser focused more on how students might contribute to the economy and their personal career development. Prosser's educational philosophy was firmly entrenched in the capitalist system and the market economy system of labor. Although he was not a Marxist, Dewey's educational philosophy more closely addresses issues related to social justice and alienation from labor and the sources of capital production. Both Dewey and Prosser valued the importance of education in making one's daily life more meaningful, but Dewey's definition of meaning can be considered higher on the Maslow needs hierarchy versus Prosser, whose…
Mathematics has its own internal logic and creates and obeys its own 'rules,' just as a beautiful picture obeys the rules of proportion (or deliberately violate but acknowledges the rules of form as seen in the artwork of Picasso). Great art or important science holds true to the logical rules of a discipline. What is good in art and science holds true to valid principles of a correspondence to
Educational Philosophy More than ever, teachers have myriad of decisions to make in their classrooms. Naturally, they have to determine curricula, how to rate the students on their work and the specific grades to give to each pupil. However, a teacher's responsibility goes far beyond this. They must decide what other skills would be helpful, or even essential, to live in this fast-paced global environment. Beyond the academics, students need education
In many learning situations, however, there is no ultimate truth upon which the teacher can call to instruct her students. Instead, many topics are still controversial, even as they are a part of history. In this case, teachers must acknowledge this fact as true, leading to a valuable lesson for students who may assume that textbooks and authority figures are always right. In some cases, however, the teacher must
Here the emphasis is on complete neutrality, the child being exposed to all different ways of thinking and believing (Cahn, p. 421). In the end the child will make his own choice as to what is best. Such complete freedom; however, rests upon a notion that children might indeed make incorrect choices; ones that are base don incomplete knowledge of the real world. The need to make rational choice
Educational Philosophy Comparison: John Dewey vs. William Bagley There have always been philosophical battles between progressive thinkers and conservative thinkers when it comes to the education of America's children. Those wars were waged in the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries, and educators from both sides, and some in the middle or the far left or far right, are still involved in the same philosophical scrimmages today. It's healthy though, to look
Synthesize traditional and progressive education for today's students. Education digest. Vol. 68, Issue 7, 4-8. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?hid=12&sid=90682ec6-64e1-4958-adc2-32dc1555fcc4%40sessionmgr13&vid=4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&an=9317873 Cohen, L.M. & Gelbrich, J. (1999). Philosophical perspectives in education. Oregon State University, School of Education. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP2.html Moser, R.D. (1951, July). The educational philopophy of William T. Harris. Peabody Journal of education. Vol. 29, No. 1, 14-33 Retrieved January 17, 2011, from http://www. Jstor, org/stable/1489104 Nehring,
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