Week 2 (9/14) - Kendra's post

1) Summarize/outline the different movements Kliebard introduces to this point: Humanism, developmentalism, and social efficiency (you may also choose to refer to the perspective of mental discipline, whose influence was waning). Refer to specific pages in the text so we have them on hand on Monday.

Humanism: Charles W. Eliot, the president of Harvard University, led the humanist interest group (p. 9).  The humanist ideal is the power of reason, sensitivity to beauty and high morality. Humanism valued classical values and were the “guardians of an ancient tradition tied to the power of reason and the finest elements of the Western cultural heritage” (p. 23). 

Developmentalism:  G. Stanley Hall was a leader in the child study movement in the U.S.  He was one of many developmentalists who believed that what should be taught to children should be based around their developmental stages (p. 10-12). 

Social efficiency: Joseph Mayer Rice, was a young pediatrician who gave up medicine to become an educational reformer (p. 17). This movement was based on the systematic and scientific measuring of what constitutes a good classroom.  Rice was interested in cutting out any unnecessary curriculum and measuring how/if students were learning what they needed to learn.  This seems like the beginning of standardized testing.  

Perspective of mental discipline: Goes back in time to Plato however most relevantly connected to German psychologist, Christian Wolff (1740).  “Mental disciplinarians built on the psychological theory by alleging that certain subjects of study had the power to strengthen faculties such as memory, reasoning, will and imagination” (p. 4). In general, those who promoted mental discipline saw the brain as a muscle and thus believed that teachers should drill students and “exercise” their minds so that they will be stronger in all of the different areas outlined by Wolff. 

Pragmatism:  Meant they relied heavily on experimentation to solve social and ethical issues

2) How do you think Kliebard is relating Dewey to these movements?

Dewey related to the ideas of many of these movements, and his conceptual framework included elements from each one. He believed in the importance of measuring school outcomes as presented by social efficiency as seen in the creation of his Laboratory School. He believed in making education child-centered as believed by the Developmentalists. He believed in the importance of morality, teaching children how to think for themselves (and reason) so that they could be active within the American democracy in alignment with the Humanists.

3) In 1951, as Dewey wrote about revising his 1925 book Experience and nature, he lamented that the "wholeness" of his concept of experience was "corrupted and destroyed" because it had become "effectively identified with experiencing in the sense of the psychological, and the psychological had become established as that which is intrinsically psychical, mental, private" (Later works, volume 1, p. 362). By that time he came to believe that the concept of culture would better suit his goals. Please review and interpret one another's 9/7 definitions of experience. In what ways do you see culture reflected in your definitions?

Interestingly, when we first discussed experience within our breakout room, we started by discussing how it was experience was personal and could only occur from the place of one's own mind and then quickly began bringing in how one's past and their sociocultural experiences affected their experiences. In looking back through our 9/7 blog posts, I see Nick discussing the importance of context and Amanda discussing how it is subjective. To be honest, thinking about things like this from a philosophical rather than a pragmatic view is difficult for me. I'm excited to learn and listen, however this is a growth zone for me!

4) What is one agenda item you'd like to discuss from this week's readings?

What did people see as a fault within Dewey's teachings?