Experience and Education

Dewey’s philosophy of education based on experience proceeds from two main principles. The principle of continuity acknowledges that all life experiences relate to one another in a nested fashion, with older experiences shaping how a person encounters and interprets new experiences.

The core message of this book is that people learn through experience, and experience is therefore the proper basis for a philosophy of education. By experience, Dewey means the lived experiences of individual students.

Freedom is a central theme in the book. Dewey uses the term to mean a condition wherein individual learners can pursue their own purposes. He states that external control can impede freedom, but he acknowledges that a lack of self-control can cause people to be subject to their own whims and desires.

One of two main principles of Dewey’s educational philosophy, the principle of interaction states that all educational experiences involve mental conditions internal to the individual learner as well as external or objective conditions. Dewey states that educators must consider both factors in planning and assessing educational experiences.

In contrast to objective conditions, this term refers to those conditions in learning experiences that are inside of or inherent to learners. Internal conditions are mental, shaped by past experiences, and include the knowledge, habits, and attitudes of specific students.

Not all experiences are of equal educational value. Certain experiences can be mis-educative by preventing learners from fully encountering future learning experiences, such as by causing boredom, cynicism, or other mental ruts.

Dewey uses the term “objective” to refer to conditions of education that are external to the individual learner. Objective conditions include material and social settings where learning takes place.

Progressive education is a new method of schooling that emerged from discontent with traditional educational practices. Progressive education places teachers within rather than above groups of learners, emphasizes active student participation in planning and assessing educational experiences, and foregrounds the idea of cooperative learning.

Dewey says a purpose is an impulse that becomes a desire when obstructed. The fulfilment of purpose requires thinking about the consequences of acting upon the impulse. Purpose in this sense is an end goal that requires intelligent planning.