John Dewey, who is regarded as the leading educational theorist of the 20th century, wrote Experience and Education, one of the most succinct essays on education ever published. Written more than two decades after Dewey’s most thorough explanation of his views on educational philosophy, Democracy and Education, this book shows how Dewey revised his beliefs in response to criticism and his experience with progressive schools during this time.
Dr. Dewey asserts that neither the old nor the new education is adequate and that each is miseducative in this analysis of both “traditional” and “progressive” education because neither of them follows the principles of a thoroughly formed philosophy of experience. This book’s many pages serve as illustrations of Dr. Dewey’s thoughts regarding the relationship between experience and education. He specifically exhorts all educators and instructors looking for a new movement in education to consider the more complex and broad concerns surrounding education rather than some controversial “ism” about education, even one like “progressivism.” His concept, as it is presented here in its most concise and understandable form, is the foundation for an American educational system that values all knowledge sources and provides a real learning environment that is both historical and social, orderly and dynamic.
