Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education

Dewey, John

ISBN 10: 1975500202 / ISBN 13: 9781975500207

Published by Myers Education Press, Gorham, ME, 2018

About this Item

8vo, 386 pp., With a Critical Introduction by Patricia H. Hinchey. Timely Classics in Education series.

Seller Inventory # 101117

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education
• Publisher: Myers Education Press, Gorham, ME
• Publication Date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1975500202
• ISBN 13: 9781975500207
• Binding: softcover
• Edition: 1st.
• Condition: Fine copy
• Seller catalogs:
  • Education

About this title

Synopsis

Some hundred years after John Dewey worked to illuminate what it means to educate and how public education serves as the bedrock of democracy, his seminal Democracy and Education speaks urgently not only to critical contemporary educational issues but to contemporary political issues as well. As mania for testing forces a steadily narrowing curriculum, Dewey explains why democracy cannot �€œflourish�€� if �€œthe chief influences in selecting subject matter of instruction are utilitarian ends narrowly conceived for the masses.�€� As such utilitarian subject matter is increasingly placed online, isolating individual students and their electronic screens, he insists that education happens not through direct instruction but �€œindirectly by means of the environment�€� where members of a community engage in meaningful tasks. As the American population appears increasingly subject to rhetorical manipulation and ideological extremism, Dewey imagines the possibility of education cultivating �€œhabits of mind which secure social changes without introducing disorder.�€� Insightful and inspiring, Dewey�€™s classic reintroduces readers to educational and political possibilities hard to remember as political and corporate forces to work reshape American public schools in the service of global profit rather than democratic life.

Through Myers Education Press�€™s Timely Classics in Education, readers are offered the opportunity to return to the original works of giants whose influence on education have persisted through the years. Critical introductions to each work offer information on the context of the original work as well as insights into current relevance. For readers unfamiliar with each text, the introductions provide entrée to the work; for experienced readers, the series offers an opportunity to return to original works untainted by the distortions of decades of interpretation. Unlike poorly produced facsimile editions, Timely Classics are high-quality products. They can be adopted for use in many types of education classes.

About the Author

Patricia H. Hinchey is Professor Emerita of Education at Penn State, where she taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses and frequently conducted professional development workshops for both K-12 and higher education educators. She is also a Fellow with the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is author or co-author of six texts, editor or co-editor of several more, and she has also published numerous journal articles.