Gives You Something To Think About...

Admittedly, the reading for this week's discussion was done for my master's studies.  I've read him before and was glad to be reminded about how treasured we are to be in a place where learning and our freedom of intellectual pursuit is a right.  Perhaps there's a group of intellectuals out there that harbor the opinion that this right is not exercised enough by the raving, audience, mainstream crowd of people...but that's besides the point, and another discussion altogether.

The topic under discussion is John Dewey's Education & Experience, which was written in 1938, and whose theoretical vision has had such an impact on the education system in the 20th century. 

It's truly amazing to behold a vision of learning, laid out for all eyes to see, which includes: a process of integrating a body of knowledge, emphasis on individual intellectual bent and motivation, mentorship, application of that body of knowledge to an experience which correlates to it, how the social community awareness will provide constraints/motivation for performance, and how the utilization of the scientific method promotes an ethical and sound processing of questions towards outcomes.

In today's high-tech and instant gratification society (of which I'm an active member) its refreshing to look back at the great thinkers that were a part of bringing us to where we are today.  This visionary helped make stands in education towards progression, a term that is still debated, but to universal benefit.  In an arena where there's always a new educational product, book, writing series, and/or technological gadget, it's nice to take any educator or "educatee" back to the basics... so to speak. 

In the classroom as students, we're privileged we are not learning solely from our Fun With Dick And Jane readers anymore.  I'm not talking about a book that was remade into a movie with Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni.  Children today have more hands-on experience in one year now than a child probably had in their entire school career one hundred years ago.  There are crystals to grow, the museum to visit, the fascinating computer programs to learn from in an animated game, plastic coins to count with, and field trips to wilderness camps with activities built to encourage character, ad infinitum.  It's all such great fun.  And as a former public school teacher who used to grace the hallways with her lesson-planning skills on the way to her gradebook, I used to revel at all the possibilities of offering learning opportunities.  So much to choose from!

While I loved so much Dewey's points on experience and systematic organization for experiential learning for students that do not ignore a body of knowledge, what keeps coming back to me when I think about this book are his arguments about intellectual freedom.  Maybe this is because Dewey's words speak to me from a past that did not have all the fringe benefits that schools now offer to its students.  I somehow remind myself about the difference of the worlds he speaks from and I live in.  It's easy to get lost at the carnival in all the fun (although I don't know if my children would view their school experience in this way). 

Dewey's main argument about intellectual freedom is that, "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." (Dewey, 61)  Our freedom to choose today sounds like a walk through the Mall of America.  In this country now we are constantly bombarded with the pressure of making choices, and in an infinite variety of.  We utilize the freedom of observation and judgment every minute.  We have the right to make choices independent of what others are telling us, and hopefully we are exercising it today.  There's not enough time in a day to say yes to all the propositions which are posited in our direction.  Are we skilled enough in aligning our skills of observing and judging with what we've named as our purpose?

It's a hard skill to build.  There's plenty of opportunity to practice.  Don't get me wrong.  I could definitely be described as a "Yes woman."  Most of my biggest life lessons came packaged in the form of saying yes, when an observer might have been passionately shaking their head, no, No, NO!!!!  This visionary writer makes such an important point about our intellectual freedom.  Dewey says, "Natural impulses and desires constitute in any case the starting point.  But there is no intellectual growth without some reconstruction, some remaking, of impulses and desires in the form in which they first show themselves."  (Dewey, 64)  The thought of applying a scientific method to any life experience might sound a bit geeky.  I love it when people don't say yes right away about a possible venture, but say instead, "I don't know, let's research it."  And I'm talking about life experiences you wouldn't access the ERIC database for.  I know.  I know.  What a geek!  I come to this level of maturity after riding roller coaster speed on the high dial of impulsivity most of my life.  I am really an adult now.  And these are the kinds of things adults would say out loud where their younger counterparts Might hear.  Since I'm talking about being an adult, I'll quote Dewey once more, "thinking is thus a postponement of immediate action, while it affects internal control of impulse through a union of observation and memory, this union being the heart of reflection.  What has been said explains the meaning of the well-worn phrase 'self-control.'  The ideal aim of education is creation of power of self-control." (Dewey, 64)

Why am I choosing this book as a topic to discuss here?  Well.....I'm exercising my intellectual freedom.