DEWEY PERSONAL REFLECTION

Abdulrahman Alshuaibi 12/1/2012 EDAE 520/FOLEY

DEWEY PERSONAL REFLECTION

Education is the most controversial field in the human sciences. There are many educational schools and theories from the old ages until today that manage and provide learning strategies, curriculum, and prepare individuals to be effective members in a society. All of them compete to improve, emphasize, and deliver the required skills and knowledge levels for people to live, work, and improve life quality. In general, many school departments and universities use the traditional education in their educational sittings. The teacher and the curriculum, which are controlled by the department or the administration, are the main elements in the educational process without a real role of students in their education. Also, the old school style of teaching focus on the teacher as the facilitator of the classroom. However, other educators, as Dr. John Dewey (1859-1952), have different learning theories of new progressive education which consider students as the main element in the educational process in free learning environment without any resections or controls. Dr. John Dewey (1859-1952) is an educator and a philosopher, social critic and political activist who has great educational theories of integrating learners in education processes, and considering real experience as education (Pragmatism Cybrary, 2012). He wrote his book Experience and education in 1938 explaining the differences in the traditional education and the progressive education, and how education and experience are related together as one instruction. He challenges the traditional educational progression for students from being recipients of knowledge to be a part of the educational process in progressive education. Also, he describes the curriculum in traditional education as previous experiences of others, which he considers that as not comprehensive enough to illustrate the knowledge, while the students experiences are the curriculum in his progressive education. For example, a history book might

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be written in advocate of early European immigrants to the U.S. and consider Native Americans as anti-civilization society, which illustrate the writers bias. However, the truth is different from what has been written. So, Deweys idea is the learners have to investigate their interests beyond the formal book to have a holistic view of that knowledge. After reading his book, many things, which I was considering as normal, are changed. This book led me to deep thinking of many educational experiences at my home country, Saudi Arabia, such as my previous basic education, high educational system, and the effect on the society. In Saudi Arabia, John Deweys theories werent present strongly until the past couples of years. Since my elementary school until high school, the regular traditional educational system, which was based on memorizing, was used. The regular classrooms focused on the curriculum as the only source of knowledge, and the teacher is the main factor of the educational process and what he say is correct. There wasnt any role for students in the traditional education as Dewey (1938) wrote: Books are the chief representatives of the lore and wisdom of the past, while teachers are the organs through which pupils are brought into effective connection with the material. (pp. 18). So, the students have to absorb the curriculum without any major role in their education. Indeed, our educational instruction based on indoctrination and memorization the given knowledge even in natural sciences subjects. In math, for example, the exams have two answering parts, to write the correct formula from the book, and to get the correct answer to solve the mathematical formula. So, students have to remember the giving static solving roles in the book to pass. However, in the recent years, the department of education in my country has changed the curriculums to be a guideline to the knowledge. Students have to think and explore skills and information by participating in learning activities and experiments in order to interact with the knowledge not just memorize it.

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DEWEY PERSONAL REFLECTION

In reality, I forget almost everything that I learned before college. Because, I learned to memorize things without connect those knowledge to life. I realized that when I read this quote, Almost everyone has had occasion to look back upon his school days and wonder what has become of the knowledge he was supposed to have amassed during his years of schooling, and why it is that the technical skills he acquired have to be learned over again in changed form in order to stand him in good stead. (Dewey, 1938, p. 47). In addition, the memory is gone by time. Without experience, almost all information will be gone because the human brain has forget feature to erase old information in order to receive new information. I believe that real life experience plants information in a deep level of memory. As Dewey (1938) mentioned, our books or curriculum are too old for this current fastgrowing generation. The knowledge is constantly changed but not as same as curriculum. Dewey (1938) explains that our curriculum is based on old fixed experience in this quote: Learning here means acquisition of what already is incorporated in books and in the heads of the elders. Moreover, that which is taught is thought of as essentially static. It is taught as a finished product, with little regard either to the ways in which it was originally built up or to changes that will surely occur in the future. (pp. 19). Indeed, the mismatch of the universitys curriculum and the labor market is a huge a problem in my country. The universities outcomes are considered as outdated or expired by the growing labor markets. The labor markets demand employees with the newest and latest field knowledge and work experiences to succeed in that volatile field. However, when students graduated from a university, they have to get new trainings, which are required to get a job, in order to adopt with the new skills in job fields. In contrast, many companies bring in foreigner workers to save training money and the hassle. They considered the foreigner workers as updated workers and ready to work which increases the

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unemployment rate of citizens. That led to messy social problems in because of unemployment, which reflect on the economic growth. On my personal level, I have been exposed to progressive education in college. Since I grew up in traditional education from elementary to high school, I wasnt used to take a part of any educational process. I used to sit in my chair and listen to my teacher all the time and believe what he said was correct even if his instruction was not logically right. However, when I went to university in my bachelors, many professors forced their student to participate in educational sittings. I did many researches, presentations, and field visits, which give me the opportunity to engage experiences with learning. I remembered that when I read this quote: Educational plans and projects, seeing education in terms of life experience, are thereby committed to framing and adopting an intelligent theory or philosophy of experience. Otherwise they are at the mercy of every intellectual breeze that happens to blow. (Dewey, 1938) (pp. 51). Dewey says that curriculum are based on perfect experiences of others and if a greater experience shows, our curriculum will be worthless. So, Dewey again suspects the knowledge of others in our curriculum. Furthermore, I think that experience is necessary to gain skills. Dewey (1938) mentioned that the experience is the base of his new education in this quote: I take it that the fundamental unity of the newer philosophy is found in the idea that there is an intimate and necessary relation between the processes of actual experience and education. (pp. 20). Also, he talked a lot how experience and education are related together and our knowledge is a result of previous experiences. However, he clarifies that not every experience is a good education. Dewey (1938) explained For some experiences are miseducative. Any experience is miseducative that has the effect of arresting or distorting the growth of further experience. (pp. 25). He adds Unless

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experience is so conceived that the result is a plan for deciding upon subject-matter, upon methods of instruction and discipline, and upon material equipment and social organization of the school, it is wholly in the air. (pp. 28). So, in order to get the advantages of the experience in learning, we, as educators, have to make the perfect experiences that illustrate the target skills or knowledge. In my profession as a university instructor, I will use more of cooperative learning and I will rely in my teaching more on student roles. As an adult education professional, I will use Deweys beliefs of the above. Many people in my country think that adult education is about literacy only. However, after reading Deweys book, I think education is a lifelong skill and not for basic education only. Dewey mentioned that in this quote: We live from birth to death in a world of persons and things which in large measure is what it is because of what has been done and transmitted from previous human activities. (pp. 39). I think this belief is the infrastructure base in education, especially for adult education. Many people consider education is for basic education only, while others look to it as lifelong learning to adopt with the fast growing knowledge. In my experience, aging is not the issue for stop learning but the inner beliefs is the factor to continue learning. For example, my father always complains that he cannot learn new things as using smartphone or Google things, because he considers himself as old and he cannot learn new things. However, my friends father is the opposite. He is older than my father and using internet to read newspapers, watching YouTube, and evermore buying stocks. In EDAE 520 Adult education course, Dr. Jeff Foley (2012) gave me good examples of Deweys (1938) ideas of progressive education versus traditional education. First, he illustrated the interactive between students, instructors, and knowledge in our third meeting in class. He showed that the teachers and the curriculum are the main factor in the educational process while

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students have to absorb that given knowledge by the instructor and the curriculum without touching the knowledge in the regular classrooms. In the progressive education, however, students can interact with knowledge under guidance of the instructor. Indeed, each student can give a different aspect or view of the knowledge which is more comprehensive. In contrast, the traditional education has only a solo view of knowledge, the view of the curriculum writer. In short, I think Deweys new progressive education is the solution for many adult problems. Despite the curriculum and instructors roles, the progressive education offers the chance for students to engage with knowledge and connect with the education. Also, the learners can be ready to cope with the fast growing evolution of knowledge in the new education. Finally, I think that real life experiences are the education.

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References Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. (First Touchstone edition, 1997). New York: Simon & Schuster Inc. Foley, J. (2012, September). Discussion focused on participation, motivation, and barriers in adult education. Lecture conducted from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. Pragmatism Cybrary, (2012). John Dewey, American Pragmatist. Retrieved December 1, 2012, from http://dewey.pragmatism.org/

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