ED 429 - Study Guide for Week 8: The Role of Experience in Education

Chapter One: Traditional vs. Progressive Education:

1.What are the key features of “traditional” education? Is Jesuit education traditional in this sense?

1. Subject matter consists of content and skills worked out in the past; 2. Developed rules of conduct have also been worked out; and 3. general pattern of school organization marks the school as an institution which is "sharply marked off" from other forms of social organization. Jesuit education as I originally understand it, dating back to Ignatius etc, largely fits these categories. My sense is that as Jesuit education has morphed over the intervening centuries, much of the morphing has been in increasingly "progressive" directions, and there now appears to be a growing support for the ideas that the demarcations between school and larger community ought to be more permeable; and also that the body of content that comprises the focus of the education ought to be more student-constructed.

(That said, every. single. course of the special education program is required (which is *not* what the state certification program calls for, although that is how the no-electives program at FU is justified); and nearly all courses that I've taken here, certainly including this one, have been extraordinarily teacher-directed. So perhaps there's a gap between increasingly "progressive" ideals and what it looks like in practice. As Dewey notes in this chapter, progressive education is "simpler" in concept, but "harder" to actually effect.)

2. What are some standard criticisms of it? "The traditional scheme is... one of imposition from above and from outside" (p. 18)

3. What are the key features of “progressive” education? Is Summerhill progressive in this sense? 1. Expression of individuality; 2. Free activity; 3. Learning through activity; 4. ("acquisition of [skills] as a means of attaining ends which make direct vital appeal" ??); 5. ("making the most of the opportunities of present life" ??); and 6. ("acquaintance with a changing world" ??). The meaning of some of these "features" are more clearly evident than others. Nonetheless, it seems clear that Summerhill aspires to the basic intent.

4. What is Dewey’s concern with regard to either/or thinking? He doesn't think much of it. (In this he diverges from Neill.)

5. What are the potential problems with progressive education? Dewey raises both pragmatic potential problems ("many of the newer schools tend to make little or nothing of organized subject-matter of study [and] to proceed as if any form of direction and guidance by adults were an invasion of individual freedom" p. 22) and also more philosophical ones (progressive education can devolve to "a theory of education which proceeds negatively or by reaction against what has been current..." and "... an educational philosophy which professes to be based on the idea of freedom may become as dogmatic as ever was the traditional education which is reacted against." p. 22)

6. What is the point of the last couple of sentences of this chapter? He seems to be suggesting that the study of the past is important insofar as it yields up insights which are meaningful and applicable to "the living present." Ironically, this is precisely the same argument that advocates for classic language- and classic text-centered education (such as Tracy Simmons) also make. They go in significantly different directions thereafter.


Chapter Two: The Need of a Theory of Experience:

7. What is problematic about the claim that education is derived from experience? Some experiences are more equal than others. Some experiences are what Dewey calls "mis-educative" and has the effect of "arresting or distorting the growth of further experience" (p. 25).

8. What makes an experience mis-educative? Note the different ways in which an experience can fail to lead to education. What assumption about education underlies this analysis? See above; an experience is mis-educative if it is so rote-based that it knocks the learner into a rut; or if it comes too easy and fosters lazy habits; or (my personal favorite) if a series of experiences which are pleasant and vivid as one-offs are too disconnected from one another, and generates "dispersive, disintegrated, centrifugal habits." p. 26

In making these judgments (several of which I suspect would irritate Neill), Dewey is clearly and explicitly valuing certain types of experiences, and certain continuities *between* experiences, above others. He is concerned with end-game outcomes: by the time students complete their "education," they ought to have "learned." While he defines learning outcomes much more in terms of lifelong habits (self-discipline, manners, independence) rather than the skills and content typically defined as "traditional" learning outcomes, he nonetheless believes that standards and accountability to them are, in principle, warranted.

9. What two criteria are used in evaluating the quality of experience? 1. Its immediate agreeableness or disagreeableness; and 2. its influence on later experiences

10. One problem with progressive critics is that they lack a plan, a vision, a philosophy of education. Dewey’s will be “a philosophy of education based upon a philosophy of experience” (p. 29). A philosophy "of, by, and for experience," actually. And Dewey says "No one of these words, of, by or for, names anything which is self-evident."

Chapter Three: Criteria of Experience:

11. What is meant by the “experiential continuum”? What is the immediate problem with using it as a measure of which experiences are educative and which not?

The continuum of experiences, ranging from the mis-educative to the deeply educative. Given the criteria of what constitutes an "educative" experience outlined in 9 above, I'm not exactly sure what the *immediate* problem is -- it's rather easy to tell (dunno about "measure") whether an experience is "immediately agreeable." The problem that presents to me is more over the medium to long term: whether the individually pleasant and vivid experiences exert influence over subsequent experiences, building upon one another, in such a way that they coalesce over time into connected and coherent learning. The hallmark of educative experiences is that they coalesce into positive *habits* -- this strikes me as a medium to longterm, not "immediate", thing.

That said, I think it's possible. As Dewey says, it's harder than traditional education, in which the already-vetted content includes substantial, imbedded support in making some of those connections. It takes more creativity, more flexibility, more organization of time and more give-and-take on content on the part of teachers: all of which is extremely hard for most teachers.

12. How does Dewey justify democracy? How is it related to progressive education? It too is justified in terms of the inherent value of educative experiences, a belief that "democratic social arrangements promote a better quality of human experience" (p. 34)

13. What is a standard objection to Dewey’s thinking that the “educative process” is growth? How does he respond to this standard objection? The principle of continuity applies in all cases -- experiences that "come too easy" foster habits (of laziness); experiences of being over-indulged foster spoilage. The progressive educator, therefore, must be brutally honest and relentless in distinguishing between "educative" and "miseducative" experiences.

Based on his concern about indulgence and how it can result in poor habits, I suspect that Dewey would be troubled that Springhill students are relieved of any sort of day-to-day chores: cooking, cleaning, keeping up the grounds, raking leaves, mowing the grass, painting, etc. Quaker institutions -- schools, camps, retreat centers, meeting houses -- all work rather differently. Most *families* do too. There *is* compulsion, certainly, but it does operate against a sense of entitlement.

14. On p. 38 Dewey offers some hints as to how an educator might distinguish between those experiences that are educative and those that are not. Note the concern about imposition here. Educative experiences ought to arouse curiosity, strengthen initiative, and establish positive habits. I'm not sure I'm reading "imposition" quite as I think Bennett is: "It is the business of the educator to see in what direction an experience is heading. There is no point in his being more mature if, instead of using his greater insight to help organize the conditions of the experience of the immature, he throws away his insight." (p. 38) This is of course qualified another paragraph down by the way "the adult can exercise the wisdom his own wider experience gives him without imposing a merely external control." The way I read these two passages in tandem, though, is to emphasize the word "merely." Controls ought not be merely external: there needs to be feedback, connection, self-direction and discipline, and joy. That's not to say, though, that Dewey never sees any place where some degree of external controls are warranted. Again, this differentiates him from Neill.

15. Note Dewey’s example of the infant, beginning on the bottom of p. 41. What is the point of this illustration?
Again, I think he is amplifying the idea of an interaction between a more experienced and less experienced person, and providing a model of what give-and-take and mutual respect looks like within that context.

16. Note Dewey’s comments about “collateral learning” (p. 48). Think of all the unintended messages that are taught in the standard school. It would be good to make a list. Oh, for goodness' sake. Write what *I* ask for, not what *you* think you'll learn from. Do what I really *want*, not what I *profess*. Be on time. Big Brother is watching. How's that?

17. Note too the comments on subject matter and timing. What is the sign of a truly educative experience? Well, his end-Ch. 2 answer focused on integration and continuity and how these work together to form positive habits. His end-Ch. 3 answer speaks more to the soul: "...appreciation of things worth while, of the values to which these things are relative... the ability to extract meaning from his future experiences as they occur" (p. 49). Perhaps these are two approaches to the same thing, the former more about process and the latter more about outcomes.