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QOTD: Equal Participation in Society and Ordered Change
A society which makes provision for participation in its good of all its members on equal terms and which secures flexible readjustment of its institutions through interaction of the different forms of associated life is in so far democratic. Such a society must have a type of education which gives individuals a personal interest in social relationships and control, and the habits of mind which secure social changes without introducing disorder.
I’m a conservative, so I know I’m not supposed to like Dewey… but I do. One reason I like him is that I appreciate a well-articulated worldview. He’s also a beautiful writer, and he entertains me by spelling “clue” c-l-e-w. But another reason I like Dewey is that I think he’s often on to something. Would that the contemporary American left would take seriously his advice about securing social change without introducing disorder!
Published in Religion & Philosophy
Here’s the first, on the Great Texts playlist.
I’m looking forward to the subsequent videos.
It makes me nervous when educators start talking about educating the whole person, because next thing you know the concept morphs into making the whole person the subject of schooling, too. And if Dewey rejects any kind of mind-body dualism or dualism in society, he probably rejects a dualism that separates schooling from education, too.
(I have similar concerns when our medical people start talking about holistic medicine.)
I’d feel better about it if we had a responsible way of thinking about the whole person.
That’s what that Confucius-Augustine-Dewey paper I mentioned is about. So much emphasis on measuring the outcomes of education, with vague moral commitments included in the outcomes–the importance of critical thinking, respect for diversity, commitment to service, readiness to participate in democracy!
But the people who want us to measure that stuff will be the last to tell us what critical thinking actuslly is; to make any objective claim about the value of a human being that could explain why service matters or why diversity should be respected; to explain why democracy is good in any kind of detail; to say anything about virtues like faith, hope, love, wisdom, courage, justice, or moderation; to give any kind of theory about the purpose of life; or even to endorse the Golden Rule. It looks to me like we’re leaving out most of the person.
MarkEckel.com is a good resource for Christian perspectives on whole-person education. I think Eckel is doing it right!
I’ll check it out.