How Did John Dewey Change Education In The 1930's

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Education was changing, literacy was spreading, and new teaching methods were emerging to grant students a chance at a bright future. The 1930’s ignited the spark that began to drive education in a positive direction. To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, expresses thoughts of disinterest in education when Atticus says,“‘They can go to school any time they want to, when they show the faintest symptom of wanting an education’” (30). At this point in time, school is not seen as necessary. Today, education plays such an important part in everyone’s lives and there are no questions about whether or not a child must go to school. “Even among those who did not go beyond grade school, there was no crisis of illiteracy” (Fuller 117). The …show more content…

These movements changed education, putting it onto the path of success. John Dewey is introduced in a discreet type of way when Scout talks about being taught Group Dynamics and what Jem calls the “Dewey Decimal System.” She goes on to mention how it had became schoolwide and is disappointed that she never had a chance to compare it with other teaching techniques (Lee 32). John Dewey’s Theory of Education gets mixed up with Melvil’s Dewey Decimal System for classifying books in a library. Educational reform is upon Scout and her school whether she knows it or not. “In spite of their abstract and difficult packaging, Dewey’s ideas… have repeatedly provided both a foundation for school improvement and a target for education critics” (Eakin 1). Dewey’s Theory that he has created changes the way education is taught forever. John Dewey provides America with the first big step at educational reform. According to the Biography.com Editors, “John Dewey was a strong progressive educational reform. He believed that education should be based on the principle of learning through doing” (5). Learning through doing inspired teachers to not just teach, but be interactive with the children. This method helped the students to learn much more effectively, thus reform was born. John Dewey helped America to step it up and help kids really understand what they were