An undesirable society, in other words, is one which internally and externally sets up barriers to free intercourse and communication of experience. John Dewey More Quotes by John Dewey More Quotes From John Dewey As a society becomes more enlightened, it realizes that it is responsible not to transmit and conserve the whole of its existing achievements, but only such as make for a better future society. The school is its chief agency for the accomplishment of this end. John Dewey agency accomplishment school Understanding one another means that objects, including sounds, have the same value for both with respect to carrying on a common pursuit. John Dewey understanding sound mean In general, every stimulus directs activity. It does not simply excite it or stir it up, but directs it toward an object. John Dewey stimulus objects doe In general it may be said that the things which we take for granted without inquiry or reflection are just the things which determine our conscious thinking and decide our conclusions. And these habitudes which lie below the level of reflection are just those which have been formed in the constant give and take of relationship with others. John Dewey reflection lying thinking The relationships of our present social life are so numerous and so interwoven that a child placed in the most favorable position could not readily share in many of the most important of them. Not sharing in them, their meaning would not be communicated to him, would not become a part of his own mental disposition. There would be no seeing the trees because of the forest. Business, politics, art, science, religion, would make all at once a clamor for attention; confusion would be the outcome. John Dewey confusion children art Adequate control means that the successive acts are brought into a continuous order; each act not only meets its immediate stimulus but helps the acts which follow. John Dewey adequate order mean There is no common understanding, and no community life. But in a shared activity, each person refers what he is doing to what the other is doing and vice-versa. John Dewey community understanding vices Continuity of life means continual readaptation of the environment to the needs of living organisms. John Dewey continuity-of-life mean needs Every one of the constituent elements of a social group, in a modern city as in a savage tribe, is born immature, helpless, without language, beliefs, ideas, or social standards. Each individual, each unit who is the carrier of the life-experience of his group, in time passes away. Yet the life of the group goes on. John Dewey immature cities ideas All communication is like art. It may fairly be said, therefore, that any social arrangement that remains vitally social, or vitally shared, is educative to those who participate in it. Only when it becomes cast in a mold and runs in a routine way does it lose its educative power. John Dewey communication running art The primary ineluctable facts of the birth and death of each one of the constituent members in a social group determine the necessity of education. John Dewey birth groups facts Communication is a process of sharing experience till it becomes a common possession. It modifies the disposition of both the parties who partake in it. John Dewey communication party common Even today, in our industrial life, apart from certain values of industriousness and thrift, the intellectual and emotional reaction of the forms of human association under which the world's work is carried on receives little attention as compared with physical output. John Dewey emotional intellectual attention Even in a savage tribe, the achievements of adults are far beyond what the immature members would be capable of if left to themselves. With the growth of civilization, the gap between the original capacities of the immature and the standards and customs of the elders increases. John Dewey achievement growth civilization What nutrition and reproduction are to physiological life, education is to social life. John Dewey physiological nutrition social To avoid a split between what men consciously know because they are aware of having learned it by a specific job of learning, and what they unconsciously know because they have absorbed it in the formation of their characters by intercourse with others, becomes an increasingly delicate task with every development of special schooling. John Dewey jobs character men A man really living alone (alone mentally as well as physically) would have little or no occasion to reflect upon his past experience to extract its net meaning. John Dewey littles men past If humanity has made some headway in realizing that the ultimate value of every institution is its distinctively human effect - its effect upon conscious experience - we may well believe that this lesson has been learned largely through dealings with the young. John Dewey lessons humanity believe What accumulated knowledge exists in low grade societies is at least put into practice; it is transmuted into character; it exists with the depth of meaning that attaches to its coming within urgent daily interests. John Dewey depth practice character As societies become more complex in structure and resources, the need of formal or intentional teaching and learning increases. John Dewey structure teaching needs
