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 * Democracy and Education Chapter 2**

In the second chapter of //Democracy and Education//, Dewey concentrates on the importance of education as a “social function,” focusing on how the school environment assists in the development of and/or impairment of the “immature” members of society. Section 1 of the chapter concentrates on developing a definition for environment, which Dewey believes is vital to understanding how information is passed from one generation to the next. The book states that the environment is best described as those things which man is vary, and which are able to “promote or hinder, stimulate or inhibit, the characteristics of a living being” (Dewey 16). In Section 2, Dewey describes the social environment, which is an environment in which the way a person acts affects others around them. The book goes on to describe how oftentimes in social environments, the less knowledgeable are manipulated by the more educated in such a way as to ensure that useful talents are established in order to benefit the society on a whole without considering the “immature” person’s desires. Until this person truly learns what it is he/she is doing, they “operate much as an automaton” without any real reason behind their actions (p. 19). In Section3, Dewey talks about the “unconscious influence of the environment,” which is to say those things are that liked or disliked by the society as a whole are assimilated into the mind of the learner. (Dewey 20) Some very important ideals are learned through this unconscious influence (e.g. language, manners, and good taste). Overall, this section demonstrates Dewey’s belief 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” (Dewey 21). In the final section of chapter 2, the book highlights the fact that, in reality, “the only way in which adults consciously control the kind of education which the immature get is by controlling the environment in which they act, and hence think and feel’ (Dewey 21). It is the environment, and not the facts that really promote learning in the minds of children. Dewey then presents what he believes to be the three main functions of school: first, to provide a simplified environment, second, to eliminate the disreputable features of the pre-existing environment from influence on the mental tendencies of the immature, and lastly, to balance the various elements within the social environment and to ensure that children are not stuck with a certain stigma because of their birthright. Overall, it is the job of the school to assist the “immature” in grasping new concepts and become a valued part of the society.
 * Summary:**


 * Key Passages:**

"our problem is to discover the method by which the young assimilate the point of view of the old, or the older bring the young into like mindedness with themselves. (Dewey 11)" "The environment consists of those conditions that promote or hinder, stimulate or inhibit, the characteristic activities of a living being."- (Dewey 11) "Now in many cases - too many cases- the activity of the immature human being is simply played upon to secure the habits which are useful. He is trained like an animal rather than educated like a human being.(Dewey 13)" "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 society. The school is the chief agency for the accomplishment in the end. (Dewey 20)" "...it is the office of the school environment to balance the various elements in the social environment, and to see to it that each individual gets an opportunity to escape from the limitations of the social group in which he was born, and to come into living contact with a broader environment. (Dewey 20)" "Roughly speaking, [school] come into existence when social traditions are so complex that a considerable part of the social store is committed to writing ans transmitted through written symbols... Consequently as soon as a community depends to any considerable extent upon which what lies beyond its own territory and its own immediate generations, it must rely upon the set agency of schools to insure adequate transmission of all it resources" (Dewey 19). "But with the development of commerce. transportation, intercommunication, and emigration, countries like the United States are composed of a combination of different groups with different traditional customs. it is this situation which has, perhaps more than any other one causes, forced the demand for an educational institutions which shall provide something like a homogeneous and balanced environment for the young" (Dewey 21). "Social environment forms the mental and emotional disposition of behavior in individuals by engaging them in activities that arouse and strengthen certain impulses, that have certain purposes and entail certain consequences" (Dewey 16) "A burnt child dreads the fire; if a parent arranged conditions so that every time a child touched a certain toy he got burned, the child would learn to avoid that toy as automatically as he avoids touching fire. The changes considered are in outer action rather than in mental and emotional dispositions of behavior (Dewey 15).


 * Important Terminology:**

"Greek Helmet"- use in an action having a common interest in end (Dewey 16)

Bellicose exhibitions: traditional boy-like tendencies exhibiting assertiveness, hostility, or combativeness (Dewey 13)

Choctaw: a seemingly inarticulate grunt (Dewey 14)

Mutually intelligible- a connection with a person because of a common experience (Dewey 5)

"**Education** is thus a **fostering**, a **nurturing**, a **cultivating**, process. All of these words mean that it implies attention to the conditions of growth" (Dewey 10).

"The words "environment", "medium" denote something more than surroundings which encompass an individual .They denote the specific Continuity of the surroundings with his own active tendencies" (Dewey 11)

"Language"- language is believed to be the way that knowledge is conveyed, but really, a child will only learn HAT by using it the way other people do, not just by hear H-A-T (Dewey 14)

"The **social environment** consists of all the activities of fellow beings that are bound up in the carrying on of the activities of any one of its members" (Dewey 22).


 * Discussion Guiding Questions:****

"Beliefs and aspirations cannot be physically extracted and inserted. How then are they communicated? Given the impossibility of direct contagion or literal inculcation, our problem is to discover the method by which the young assimilate the point of view of the old, or the older bring the young into like-mindedness with themselves" (Dewey11). --//What do you now hold as a vital thread of society that in your younger year was of little importance to you?//

//"//How do you feel your own school environment impacted the ways you learned and shaped your education?" Should schools take a more active role in teaching certain social functions that are traditionally learned in the home, such as manners or hygiene for examples? I believe that if schools did play a role in it that it should be minor. Yes, students should learn manners and basic good hygene but because of the heterogeneous mixture of our society today, teachers have to be careful with crossing boundary lines and being careless about religious and cultural differences.