John Dewey quote
From Wikiversity
"I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living."
-John Dewey, My Pedagogic Creed (1897)
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[edit] Context
(emphasis added)
- "I believe that the school is primarily a social institution. Education being a social process, the school is simply that form of community life in which all those agencies are concentrated that will be most effective in bringing the child to share in the inherited resources of the race, and to use his own powers for social ends.
- I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.
- I believe that the school must represent present life - life as real and vital to the child as that which he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood, or on the play-ground.
- I believe that education which does not occur through forms of life, forms that are worth living for their own sake, is always a poor substitute for the genuine reality and tends to cramp and to deaden."
-John Dewey, My Pedagogic Creed (1897)
[edit] Similar quotes
"Since education is not a means to living, but is identical with the operation of living a life which is fruitful and inherently significant, the only ultimate value which can be set up is just the process of living itself. And this is not an end to which studies and activities are subordinate means; it is the whole of which they are ingredients."
-John Dewey, Democracy and Education (1916)
[edit] Other quotes
[edit] Discussion
Begin discussion of quote here:
I think the second quote above ("Since education is not a means to living...") is too long for a quote of the day, unless we are to allocate the QOTD more space on the Main Page. Perhaps, then, we should think about utilising some of the other space currently not being used on the Main page for the QOTD? Cormaggio talk 19:00, 28 January 2008 (UTC)
- I included the second quote on this page for that very reason. On the main page we have the short quote with a link to this page, and then people can read and comment on the ideas. See also Victor Hugo quote which includes the entire paragraph from the book where the quote came from. I hope that the discusisons here will include more than just the question of putting quotes on the main page and go into the ideas behind the quote. --mikeu talk 19:10, 28 January 2008 (UTC)
- Very good. I've left a comment on Victor Hugo quote too. Cormaggio talk 19:19, 28 January 2008 (UTC)
- Quite obviously education is a preparation for future living so that cannot possibly be what he meant. He could be referring to future living instead, which could be re-interpreted as a reference to the necessity of citizenship education. He could also mean to say that education should allow living and not replace it, which could in turn mean that children need a life outside education and that preparing for life (education) requires (learning) experiences that happen outside the classroom (or curriculum). It could also be interpreted as a garbled reference to lifelong learning. Very concise, if that's all in this quote. --Fasten 09:29, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
- And it could, of course, also be interpreted to mean that "living is the process of education for a life after death". --Fasten 09:32, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
I think it would be reductive to say it has only one meaning, it's rather better to see it having different layers. For me, it is a quote that challenges the falsely perceived notion that education is about getting a certificate, a diploma or a degree and then that's it, you can get a good job and you're sorted for life. Education goes beyond that, it is not a means to an end but rather an end in itself. Dewey is saying, and I agree with this, that learning is something which pervades all your existence, it happens all of the time if you just open your eyes and your mind to it. It is about living in the here and now, not thinking about some distant future. What is the concept of future anyway? If we are open to the possibility of learning in each and every moment and if we are prepared to learn from anyone or anything, then we have education. Otherwise, it's just a surrogate.
Kevmol 24 June 2008
I have to state that we, as individuals, need to understand that education is a tree that has its roots and branches. Our purpose is to strengthen its roots so that it can have a better foundation and it can grow more branches and leaves. The way we strengthen its roots is by not just watering it or providing organic material, it is also essential to have a ground where it can survive and prosper. I feel, the present system of education is not giving much space for this tree to spread its branches or ground to deepen the roots.
Hitesh 30 December 2008
There isn't that much to this quote. Why are you guys going through so much trouble to say nothing at all? John Dewey was not a poet, he was an American Pragmatist. What is so hard to understand about this quote, then? It is what it is. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 161.185.150.180 (talk • contribs) 10:41, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
