The University of Georgia
College of Education
Professor Bill WragaFall 2017
EDUC 6100 American Pragmatism, John Dewey, and Education
Communications
Phone: (706) 542-4166 (voice mail)
Fax: (706) 542-587
Address: University of Georgia
River’s Crossing 309
850 College Station Road
Athens, GA 30602
E-mail:
Conferences: At mutual convenience; please schedule in advance.
Course Description
Examination of John Dewey's principal ideas about education through close reading of selected key works in the context of educational progressivism and American philosophical pragmatism.
Prerequisites
Open to upper level students in all majors and all graduate students.
Course Objectives
After completing this course the student should be able to:
1. Explain the principal features of progressivism in education in the US.
2. Explain the main ideas of American philosophical pragmatism.
3. Analyze and evaluate Dewey's principal ideas about education through a close reading of key writings.
4. Explain Dewey's ideas in the context of educational progressivism and American pragmatism.
5. Explore the significance of Dewey's ideas for education today.
The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary.
Required Readings
Books: Available from UGA bookstore.
Dewey, J. (1990). The school and society/The child and the curriculum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Dewey, J. (1966). Democracy and education. NY: The Free Press.
Dewey, J. (1998). Experience and education: The 60th anniversary edition. West Lafayette, IN: Kappa Delta Pi.
Dewey, J. (2013). The sources of a science of education. NY: Liveright.
Chapters and Articles:
Childs, J. L. (1956). American pragmatism and education. NY: Holt. Chapter One: "The Cultural Roots of Pragmatism."
Reese, W. J. (2001). The origins of progressive education. History of Education Quarterly, 41(1), 1-24.
Wallace, J. M. (1999). Progressive education. In Richard J. Altenbaugh (Ed.). Historical dictionary of American education (pp. 300-303). Westport, CN: Greenwood Press.
Cremin, L. A. (1962). Preface.The transformation of the school. NY: Knopf.
Dewey, J. (1902) Current problems in secondary education. The School Review, 10 (1), 13-28.
Dewey, J.( 1985/1913) Some dangers in the present movement for industrial education. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.).John Dewey: The Middle Works, 1899-1924, vol. 7. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 98-103.
Dewey, J. (1985/1915b).Splitting up the school system. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.).John Dewey: The Middle Works, 1899-1924, vol. 8. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 123-127.
Dewey, J. (1977/1903). Democracy in education. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.).The middle works of John Dewey, 1899-1924, Vol. 3. (pp. 229-239). Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
Dewey, J. (1991/1937). Democracy and educational administration. In J.A. Boydston, (Ed.). John Dewey: The latter works, 1925-1953, Volume 11 (pp. 217-225). Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
Additional materials will be provided by the instructor throughout the semester.
Class Activities
Class activities will emphasize student interaction with ideas, texts, and each other. You will spend most of your class time in whole-class discussions as well as in some small-group activities and discussions. It will be imperative for you to think about US education in ways other than the current standards and accountability approach to educational "reform." All educational ideas and practices will be subject to analysis and evaluation; deliberation and critique will prevail.
Unless we are accessing texts electronically, during class sessions power-down all digital devices.
Electronic recording of class sessions is not permitted.
Please think about ways that the content of this course relates to the content of other courses you have taken.
The University of Georgia is committed to full inclusion of all students. Students who, by nature of a documented disability, require academic accommodations should contact the instructor. Students may also speak with Disability Services at 542-8719 to discuss the process for requesting accommodations.
Assignments
Students are expected always to give their best effort on course work. To improve on that work and to use writing as an instructional tool, a revise-and-resubmit process will be in effect for all written work. For each paper, in addition to a grade, you will receive suggestions for how your written work may be improved; you are encouraged to revise and resubmit your work accordingly. Some restrictions will apply. Please heed the Tips for Writing Papers at the end of this syllabus. You are encouraged to submit drafts of your work-in-progress for formative review. Please submit for each written assignment a single-sided, double-spaced, paginated, stapled paper; for revisions, please submit the original paper with the revised version.
I. Progressivism and Pragmatism (4-6 ds page paper) Course objective 1 and 2
Explain the principal features of progressive education and the main ideas of American philosophical pragmatism. To what extent is progressive education a manifestation of Progressive Era reform? of philosophical pragmatism? Papers will be evaluated on focus, coherence, and use of logic and evidence.
II. Dewey on Education (4-6 ds page paper) Course objectives 3 and 4
Explain Dewey's ideas about the child and society as sources for educational experiences. How are Dewey's ideas a reaction to traditional forms of education? Papers will be evaluated on focus, coherence, and use of logic and evidence.
III. Insights from Dewey’s Theory of Education (4-6 ds page paper) course objective 5
Explain Dewey's ideas about the place of reflective thinking and of subject matter in educational experiences. How are Dewey's ideas a departure from traditional forms of education? Papers will be evaluated on focus, coherence, and use of logic and evidence.
Evaluation/Grading
Evaluation will comprise formal and informal, formative and summative appraisals of student work. Sources of information about student learning will include instructor observation of small group, whole class, and applied activities, as well as the assignments articulated above. Final grade will be determined according to the following formula:
Class Participation25%
Assignment I25%
Assignment II25%
Assignment III25%
Final course grades will be computed by converting the letter grade for each assignment into numerical values based on the 4.0 scale that the University of Georgia uses to determine GPA (i.e., A=4.0, A-=3.7, B+=3.3, B=3.0, B-=2.7, C+=2.3, and so on) and then converting the average numerical value of the assignment grades back to a letter grade using the following 4.0 ranges: A=4.0-3.71, A-= 3.7-3.31, B+= 3.3-3.01, B= 3.0-2.71, B-=2.7-2.31, C+=2.3-2.01, C= 2.0-1.71, C-= 1.7-1.01, D=1.0-.01, F=0.
Students are expected to complete assigned readings, attend class sessions, participate in class discussions, and submit assignments on time. Participation in class discussions and activities is imperative. Because the course is discussion-based, attendance is mandatory. Please notify the instructor if you will be absent from a class session. It is the student’s responsibility to make arrangements for finishing missed, late, or incomplete work with the instructor.
Academic Honesty
As a University of Georgia student, you have agreed to abide by the University’s academic honesty policy, “A Culture of Honesty,” and the Student Honor Code. All academic work must meet the standards described in “A Culture of Honesty” found at: Lack of knowledge of the academic honesty policy is not a reasonable explanation for a violation. Questions related to course assignments and the academic honesty policy should be directed to the instructor.
Please be aware especially of the Culture of Honesty definition of plagiarism:
“Plagiarism - Submission for academic advancement the words, ideas, opinions or theories of another that are not common knowledge, without appropriate attribution to that other person. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the following acts when performed without appropriate attribution:
Directly quoting all or part of another person's written or spoken words without quotation marks, as appropriate to the discipline;
Paraphrasing all or part of another person's written or spoken words without notes or documentation within the body of the work;
Presenting an idea, theory or formula originated by another person as the original work of the person submitting that work;
Repeating information, such as statistics or demographics, which is not common knowledge and which was originally compiled by another person;
Purchasing (or receiving in any other manner) a term paper or other assignment that is the work of another person and submitting that term paper or other assignment as the student's own work.”
Course Agenda
Week 1Introduction
15 AugustDewey Biography
Week 2American Pragmatism and Progressivism
22 AugustChilds. "The Cultural Roots of Pragmatism."
Reese, “The Origins of Progressive Education.”
Wallace, “Progressive Education.”
Cremin, Transformation of the school (selections)
Week 3Dewey, The School and Society (1899)
29 August
Week 4Dewey, Three Years of the University Elementary School(1899)
5 SeptemberDewey, The Child and Curriculum (1902)
Week 5Dewey, Democracy and Education (1916)
12 SeptemberPreface, pp. 321-23, chaps. 1-5
Assignment I Due (prag and prog)
Week 6Dewey, Democracy and Education (1916)
19 SeptemberChaps. 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
Week 7Dewey, Democracy and Education (1916)
26 SeptemberChaps. 12-13, 14-15, 16-17
Week 8Dewey, Democracy and Education (1916)
3 OctoberChaps. 18-19, 20-21, 22-23
Week 9Dewey, Democracy and Education (1916)
10 OctoberChaps. 24, 25, 26
Week 10Dewey, Experience and Education (1938)
17 OctoberChaps. 1-4
Week 11Dewey, Experience and Education (1938)
24 OctoberChaps. 5-8
Week 12Dewey, Sources of a Science of Education (1929)
31 OctoberAssignment II Due (overview)
Week 13Dewey on Secondary Education
7 NovemberDewey, “Current problems in secondary education” (1902)
Dewey, “Some dangers in the present movement for industrial education” (1913)
Dewey, “Splitting up the school system” (1915)
Week 14Dewey on Democracy in Schooling
14 NovemberDewey, “Democracy in education” (1903)
Dewey, “Democracy and educational administration” (1937)
Assignment III Due (insights)
21 NovemberThanksgiving Break
Week 15Conclusions
28 November
Selected Bibliography
The academic literature on Dewey is vast. The following few worksoffer an invitation and possibly an initiation into Dewey Studies.
Dewey’s works:
Dewey’s writings are largely still available from their original publishers. Additionally, the Center for Dewey Studies at Southern Illinois University, with the endorsement of the Committee on Scholarly Editions of the Modern Language Association, has assembled the definitive collection of Dewey’s works in thirty-eightvolumes organized into Early, Middle, and Later periods of Dewey’s career. This collection is available in UGA’s Main Library. For an overview of Dewey’s collected works see:
Boydston, J. A. (Ed.). (1970). Guide to the works of John Dewey. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
Biographies of Dewey:
Dykhuizen, G. (1973). The life and mind of John Dewey. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
Martin, J. (2002). The education of John Dewey: A biography. NY: Columbia University Press.
Westbrook, R. B. (1991). John Dewey and American democracy. Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press.
Pragmatism:
Bernstein, R. J. (1993). Appendix: Pragmatism, pluralism, and the healing of wounds. In The new constellation: The ethical-political horizons of modernity/postmodernity (pp. 323-340). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Childs, J. L. (1956). American pragmatism and education. NY: Holt.
Dewey, J. (1984/1925). The development of American pragmatism. In Boydston, J. A. (Ed.). John Dewey: The later works, 1925-1953, vol. 2. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
Fisch, M. H. (1977). American pragmatism before and after 1898. In Robert W. Shahan and Kenneth R. Merrill, (Eds.). American philosophy from Edwards to Quine (pp. 78-110). Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Menand, L. (2001). The metaphysical club: A story of ideas in America. NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Progressivism in Education:
Cremin, L. A. (1962). The transformation of the school. NY: Knopf.
Reese, W. J. (2001). The origins of progressive education. History of Education Quarterly, 41:1-14.
Tyack, D. B. (1974). The one best system: A history of American urban education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Esp. Part V.
Wallace, J. M. (1999). Progressive education. In Richard J. Altenbaugh (Ed.). Historical dictionary of American education (pp. 300-303). Westport, CN: Greenwood Press.
Zilversmit, A. (1993). Changing schools: Progressive education theory and practice, 1930-1960. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Recent Discussions of Dewey’s work:
Breault, D. A. and Breault, R. (2005). Experiencing Dewey: Insights for today’s classroom. Indianapolis, IN: Kappa Delta Pi.
Campbell, J. (1995). Understanding John Dewey. Peru, IL: Open Court Publishing.
Cunningham, P. and Heilbronn, R. (Eds.). Dewey in our time: Learning from John Dewey for transcultural practice. London: University College London Institute of Education Press.
Hansen, D.T. (Ed.). (2006). John Dewey and our educational prospect. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Hickman, L. A. and Spadafora, G. (Eds.). (2009). John Dewey’s educational philosophy in international perspective. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
Tips for Writing Papers in Wraga’s Courses
Focus your paper on the specific assignment as described in the course syllabus. Only after you have accomplished the assigned task, should you introduce material from outside the syllabus, but this is not required.
Organize your paper in a coherent fashion—that is, every part of your paper, every paragraph, every sentence, should contribute to accomplishing the specific assignment.
Develop your argument by employing logic and evidence. That is, explain your argument clearly and quote from class readings to support your argument. Whenever you use verbatim text from a reading, put that material in quotation marks and cite the specific source and page number for that material.
Whenever you use verbatim text from a reading, put that material in quotation marks and cite the specific source and page number for that material. For example:
Citation in text:
Dewey (1916) defined education as "that reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to the meaning of experience, and which increases ability to direct the course of subsequent experience" (p. 76).
Appears in references as:
Dewey, J. (1966). Democracy and education. NY: The Free Press.
Also, follow these pointers from Strunk & White’s famous The Elements of Style (Macmillan, 1972):
Make the paragraph the unit of composition
Use the active voice
Put statements in positive form
Use specific language
Omit needless words
Keep related words together
Keep to one tense
Place emphasis at the end of a sentence
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