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My Educational Philosophy |
Excerpts from Dewey's How We ThinkWe all jump to conclusions; we all fail to examine and test our ideas because of our personal attitudes. ~ John Dewey, How We Think [Open-mindedness] includes an active desire to listen to more sides than one; to give heed to facts from whatever source they come; to give full attention to alternative possibilities; to recognize the possibility of error even in the beliefs that are dearest to us. ~ John Dewey, How We Think When a person is absorbed, the subject carries him on. ~ John Dewey, How We Think It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs. ~ John Dewey, How We Think A genuine enthusiasm is an attitude that operates as an intellectual force. ~ John Dewey, How We Think Intellectual responsibility secures integrity; that is to say, consistency and harmony in belief. ~ John Dewey, How We Think There is such as thing as readiness to consider in a thoughtful way the subjects that do come within the range of experience—a readiness thtat contrasts strongly with the disposition to pass judgment on the basis of mere custom, tradition, prejudice, etc., and thus shun the task of thinking. ~ John Dewey, How We Think When anyone is thoroughly interested in some object and cause, he throws himself into it; he does so, as we say, 'heartily,' or with a whole heart. The importance of this attitude or disposition is generally recognized in practical and moral affairs. But it is equally important in intellectual development. There is no greater enemy of effective thinking than divided interest. ~ John Dewey, How We Think There is no greater enemy of effective thinking than divided interest. ~ John Dewey, How We Think Teachers – and this holds especially of the stronger and better teachers – tend to rely upon their personal strong points to hold the child to his work, and thereby to substitute their personal influence for that of subject matter as a motive for study. The teacher finds by experience that his own personality is often effective where the power of the subject to command attention is almost nil; then he utilizes the former more and more, until the pupil's relation to the teacher almost takes the place of his relation to the subject. In this way, the teacher's personality may become, for the pupil, a source of personal dependence and weakness, an influence that renders the pupil indifferent to the value of the subject for its own sake. ~ John Dewey, How We Think Excerpts from Dewey's The Child and the CurriculumTo possess all the world of knowledge and lose one's own self is as awful a fate in education as in religion. ~ John Dewey, The Child and the Curriculum The source of whatever is dead, mechanical, and formal in schools is found precisely in the subordination of the life and experience of the child to the curriculum. ~ John Dewey, The Child and the Curriculum As long as we confine our gaze to what the child here and now puts forth, we are confused and misled. ~ John Dewey, The Child and the Curriculum Familiarity breeds contempt, but it also breeds something like affection. We get used to the chains we wear, and we miss them when removed. ~ John Dewey, The Child and the Curriculum Excerpts from Dewey's Democracy and EducationThe criterion of the value of school education is the extent in which it creates a desire for continued growth . . . ~ John Dewey, Democracy and Education Only diversity makes change and progress. ~ John Dewey, Democracy and Education Every rigid aim just because it is rigidly given seems to render it unnecessary to give careful attention to concrete conditions. ~ John Dewey, Democracy and Education The material of thinking is not thoughts, but actions, facts, events, and the relations of things. ~ John Dewey, Democracy and Education The best type of teaching bears in mind the desirability of affecting this interconnection. It puts the student in the habitual attitude of finding points of contact and mutual bearings. ~ John Dewey, Democracy and Education For every act, by the principle of habit, modifies disposition—it sets up a certain kind of inclination and desire. ~ John Dewey, Democracy and Education Excerpts from Dewey's Experience and EducationMankind likes to think in terms of extreme opposites. ~ John Dewey, Experience and Education Some experiences are mis-educative. Any experience is mis-educative that has the effect of arresting or distorting the growth of further experience. ~ John Dewey, Experience and Education The easy and the simple are not identical. To discover what is really simple and to act upon the discovery is an exceedingly difficult task. ~ John Dewey, Experience and Education Every experience is a moving force. Its value can be judged only on the ground of what it moves toward and into. ~ John Dewey, Experience and Education He is lucky who does not find that in order to make progress, in order to go ahead intellectually, he does not have to unlearn much of what he learned in school. ~ John Dewey, Experience and Education The only freedom that is of enduring importance is freedom of intelligence, that is to say, freedom of observation and of judgment exercised in behalf of purposes that are intrinsically worth while. ~ John Dewey, Experience and Education Thinking is thus a postponement of immediate action, while it effects internal control of impulse through a union of observation and memory, this union being the heart of reflection. ~ John Dewey, Experience and Education [Our] desires are the moving springs of action. ~ John Dewey, Experience and Education The development occurs through reciprocal give-and-take, the teacher taking but not being afraid also to give. ~ John Dewey, Experience and Education
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