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Yunseob Kim
March 1 2006
Philosophy of Education 1
John Dewey’s idea in my experience
and a task in the future.
Why do humans have to receive education? Do they just receive
education in order to get a good job? Or do they discover who they are?
It’s not easy to identify why we are learning. I think that there are two
main streams to pursue in education. Some people should pursue the
worth of education in practical things-Education is considered a kind of
method to achieve practical things. Others should pursuit the worth of
education in subject matter-Education is considered the intrinsic value to
pursuit. Many people misunderstand John Dewey who pursues education
only in practical things. But I believe that he explores both practical
things and the intrinsic values of education. I based this paper on my
experience that John Dewey’s ideas were adopted, which has positive
effects on me. And I will also argue John Dewey’s limitation, which would
be difficulty adopted in reality.
I absolutely agree with him that education involves continuity and
interaction between the learner and what is learned. It is not good for
every student to adopt every subject matter equally without considering
individual difference or individual experience. Every experience should
do something to prepare a person for later experiences of deeper and
more expansive quality. That is the very meaning of growth, continuity,
and reconstruction of experience. So the teacher should consider
student’s experience before teaching them. If not, students would lose
their interest or would fail to achieve in their learning.
I taught students in elementary school until last year. One of my
fifth grade students really had difficulty following scheduled math
curriculum. He also lost his confidence about math. I found out that he
couldn’t understand low level math. Choosing low level math text, I
began to teach him. As I taught him, I learned that adults are apt to
teach children according to an adult’s standard. That is a big reason for
students to lose their confidence about learning. According to cognitive
psychologists, it is said that there are some steps for children to
develop their cognitive recognition. My son also is late in cognitive
development. My wife often scorns my son when he can’t follow her
teaching. I think that some children need more time to get a new
concept. They need more time to play with concrete objects to obtain
fundamental concepts. I firmly believe that Dewey’s idea considers
student experience or student level.
In Korea, curriculum is revised on a periodic basis to reflect the
newly rising demands for education, emerging needs of a changing
society, and new frontiers of academic disciplines. The national
curriculum and regional guidelines accord flexibility to individual schools
in accordance with the particular characteristics and objectives of each
school. Right now, the seventh curriculum is being introduced in Korean
education. It is a student-oriented curriculum emphasizing individual
talent, aptitude, and creativity, unlike the curriculum of the past, and
consists of the basic common curriculum and the selected curriculum at
the high school level. It also covers ten years from the first year of
primary school through the first year of high school. The general public
is able to receive the necessary basic education required for everyday
life (Education & Human Resources Development 2006. South Korea). In
my view, many Korean curriculums are based on John Dewey’s
Philosophy because our government, at first, tries to help students study
according to level of their capability. The seventh curriculum has faced
many objections because many people engaging in education as well as
parents prefer for students not to take part in class according to their
level. Especially parents don’t want to be considered inferior because
their children are in low level classes. Also, teachers do not like this new
curriculum because it requires more preparation. Moreover, even though
the philosophy of the seventh curriculum is good, it was introduced
without preparing enough facilities such as rooms, teachers, social
environments, etc. However, I believe that this is a good direction for our
education.
Many students from Korea are studying in America, and most of
them don’t want to return to Korea. Why don’t they want to go back to
Korea? I think that the major reason is that the atmosphere here is more
liberal than in Korea. American teachers encourage students more than
Korean teachers. Even though students do only little things, American
teachers encourage them, so they have confidence. Of course, it depends
on an individual person, but generally, American teachers are more
generous, kind and friendly than Korean teachers. The other reason is
various extra activates in American education. Last Sunday, I had a
chance to meet some Korean students who are studying in American high
school. All of them commonly said that they don’t have anything to do
except study in Korea. John Dewey considers creating power of selfcontrol as the ideal aim of education. I am sure that self-control is
created more in a democratic atmosphere than in directing by outward
forces such as a teacher’s control or command. The American education
system considers children’s choice important to the teaching compared
to Korea. In my opinion, American schools and teachers greatly
emphasize democratic atmosphere to help students grow self-control in
school. I strongly believe that it is very important to develop democratic
society through education.
Whenever I encounter a new theory or idea, I struggle to
overcome the differences between ideals and reality, especially as a
teacher in the real situation. As I understand John Dewey’s ideas, the
most challenge thing is overcoming differences between real social
systems and his ideas. For example, our real society demands student’s
grades, and students are evaluated according to their grades. According
to John Dewy, meaningful education is carried out when individual
experiences are fully considered and then their knowledge is reorganized
based on their past experiences. I think that evaluation is one of the most
important factors of education. However, John Dewey’s ideas are hard to
put into real situations. That is, is it possible to evaluate student’s
achievements based on individual experiences and progress? If possible,
there is another problem. For example, imagine two students studying
math. One begins the class with few prerequisites but struggles toward
the objectives of the year, learning the prerequisites and partially
achieving those objectives. A second student arrives at the course with
the objectives of the year already mastered, but makes little gain,
although still ending up looking better than the first student (Bruce Joyce,
p 425).
Evidently, the first student deserves better grades than the
second student according to John Dewey. However, could our society in
reality accept it? And is it reasonable for the first student to gain better
grades than the second student? I’d like to give the first student better
grades as an educator, but our society would not accept that, especially
in Korea.
In conclusion, I believe that the goal of education is not academic
seclusion but the linking of academic pursuit with real life to provide
meaningful solutions. Especially, John Dewey’s ideas about experience,
self control, progressive organization, etc. are very useful to consider in
education. But all theory could not be perfect in all aspects. So teachers
should take advantage of his ideas and develop them to improve its flaws.
Reference
Bruce, J., Marsha, w. & Emily, C. (2003). Models of teaching(seventh
edition). New York: Pearson.
South Korea (Education & Human Resources Development 2006),
Education Overview, Retrieved 26, 2006, from http://english.moe.go.kr/