John Dewey Democracy And Education Summary

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Book Review John Dewey Democracy and Education Democracy and Education was published by John Dewey in 1916. The original title of the book was to be Introduction to the Philosophy of Education but was changed due to the political pressure of the World War. The original title was however retained as the subtitle of the book. The book was written to shed light on the fundamental educational, socio political consequences of the world war, civil war, industrialization, migration etc. Born in 1859 in a largely agrarian American society, Dewey saw the massive changes that American society. The book gives a way to deal with the jarring changes through education. The book is a study of education and its relation to the individual and society. The book is a philosophical enquiry rather than a socio political or historical one. In the book Dewey criticises and expands on the educational philosophies of Rousseau and Plato. The book has 26 chapters and can be divided into two parts. This division is not present in the contents and thus is not a structural division per se. The first seven chapters provide a theoretical foundation for democratic education and the later chapters reconstruct the core educational notions upon that foundation. Dewey examines why education is fundamental to the nature and perpetuation of any human community, however humble or vast it may be in size and scope of activity. According to Dewey, education is decisive for renewal of human culture and