“Education is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.”
John Dewey · Pragmatism
knowledgechangesociety
Well attested
Philosopher
Last reviewed:
John Dewey
1859–1952 · Pragmatism · Modern
John Dewey developed pragmatism into a philosophy of education, inquiry, and democracy. Learning, for him, is a social process of living, not the storage of answers for a future that is treated as the only real life. My Pedagogic Creed says this in one believable sentence. Democracy and Education, in 1916, is the book-length argument: habits, growth, and a community in which growth is possible.
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Experience and Education later answers people who had turned him into a licence for classrooms without direction. He spent years rejecting that caricature. The slogans that circulate, education is life itself, are smoothings of the creed, and this library would rather keep the creed than add another smoothing. He wrote a great deal about art, logic, and the public.
Almost none of it fits on a poster without losing the qualification that makes it his. The one secured sentence is enough to stop the caricature. It is not enough to represent the politics.
Three secured sentences are included: the 1897 claim that education is a process of living, the opening of Democracy and Education that education is the means of social continuity, and the 1916 claim that a democracy is a mode of associated living. Further familiar lines are omitted where the wording is a chapter compressed into a motto. His books argue in paragraphs, and a stack of slogans would misrepresent them.
Start here
My Pedagogic Creed, then the first chapters of Democracy and Education.
The creed is the sentence people half-remember. The book shows the qualifications the sentence needs.
Quotations
“A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience.”
John Dewey · Pragmatism
societyknowledgefreedom
Well attested
“Education, in its broadest sense, is the means of this social continuity of life.”
John Dewey · Pragmatism
societyknowledgechange
Well attested
Key ideas
Growth
Education is living, with direction. Not storage, and not 'whatever the child feels'.
Inquiry
Thinking begins in a troubled situation and ends in a transformed one.
Democracy
A form of associated life, not only a ballot. Schools are part of it.
Major works
My Pedagogic Creed (1897)
The short statement. Article 2 holds the sentence this library uses.
Democracy and Education (1916)
The full philosophy of education.
Experience and Education (1938)
His answer to the caricature of progressive schooling.
Influences
Influenced
- Richard Rorty
Common misreadings
- He did not say standards do not matter. Growth has a direction. The caricature is what Experience and Education answers.
- The proverb 'education is life itself' is a smoothing of the creed, not a second quotation.
Famous lines John Dewey never said
None of the lines this library files for John Dewey is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
FAQ
What is the best book to start with?
My Pedagogic Creed, then the first chapters of Democracy and Education. The creed is the sentence people half-remember. The book shows the qualifications the sentence needs.
What is the most famous quote?
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for John Dewey that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “Education is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.” (My Pedagogic Creed, article 2, Well attested).
What is the most misquoted line?
None of the lines this library files for John Dewey is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
What is one key idea, in a sentence?
Growth: Education is living, with direction. Not storage, and not 'whatever the child feels'.