An Analysis of the Social Backgrounds of John Dewey’s Philosophy of Education

王鸽 魏钰

【Abstract】At the turn of the 19th and 20th century， American society went through a series of transformations. Education， as a key tool for social progress， had inevitably taken the brunt. John Dewey， after in-depth reflection on educational problems， applied pragmatism to his educational theory and practice. This article is a brief analysis of the social backgrounds of John Deweys philosophy of education.

【Key words】John Dewey; philosophy of education; social backgrounds

【作者简介】王鸽，魏钰（通讯作者），武警后勤学院。

1. Social Transformations in America at the Turn of the Century

Before the Civil War， America was largely an agrarian society， whose industrial development was not as fast as European countries. But at the end of the 19th century， American society had in general completed the process of industrialization and become a leading industrial power in the world. Long-established commercial centers were becoming industrialized and new manufacturing cities were growing rapidly （Goheen 1973）.

It is well known that the United States is a nation of immigrants. Prior to the 1880s， those who arrived in America were mainly immigrants from northern and western Europe. After the 1880s， however， a substantial amount of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe came to the United States. Those immigrants were， on the one hand， pushed by poverty or political and religious persecution in their homeland; on the other hand， pulled by millions of job opportunities generated by Americas increasingly prosperous economy. They possessed some features that were different from the old immigrants.

Accompanied by industrialization and new waves of immigrants was the growth of industrial cities in America. In 1860， there were about 1/4 Americans who lived in cities or towns. The ratio in 1890 was 1/3. Up to 1910， nearly half of Americans were city and town dwellers， which changed fundamentally the proportion of urban and rural residents. Another obvious indicator of urbanization during this era was the dramatic increase of size and number of American cities.

2. The Exposure of Drawbacks of Traditional Education

Along with economic development， urban growth and concentration of population， public education was attached more and more importance and attention. Nevertheless， in the 1860s， only half of the children had access to formal school education. Whats more， many children dropped out only after two or three years attending school. The biggest drawback of American education at that time was being trapped in the old-fashioned philosophy of education （朱麗莉 2006）. Deeply influenced by the thoughts of J. F. Herbart， American education at the turn of century was mainly dominated by formalism， which resulted in unadaptability of school life， curriculum content， teaching model to social changes.

Industrialization， urbanization and new waves of immigrants， combined with the social problems produced by these transformations， presented new requirements to American education. The objectives， contents and methods of education changed gradually with the proceeding of industrialization， which demanded workers to have a good command of new skills. However， the existing educational institutions and home were completely inadequate to provide the type of education needed by the society （Sullivan 1966）. At that time， millions of women began to enter the pool of labor force， thus traditional family education had been replaced by school education and the time of attendance had been increased. One negative consequence brought about by the prolonged time of school attending was that students were gradually alienated from the society， unable to put into practice the knowledge acquired in schools. In this context， it was an urgent task to reform American education in order to cement the connection between school and society， and to meet the requirements of industrialization.

3. Conclusion 

At the turn of century， radical changes were taking place in American society. John Dewey probed into the underlying problems in traditional education and developed a new system of democratic education. He puts education in the social context of American reality and connects closely education and society. Where the thoughts of John Dewey have been applied and practiced， it has improved the quality of American education more than the work or ideas of any other single American， living or dead.

References：

[1]Goheen， Peter G. Industrialization and the Growth of Cities in Nineteenth-century America[J]. American Studies，14.1（1973）：49-65.

[2]Sullivan， Phyllis. John Deweys Philosophy of Education[J]. The High School Journal，49.8（May 1966）：391-97.