Democracy+and+Education+Chapter+6

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 * Democracy and Education Chapter 6**


 * Summary:**

__Abstract:__ Theories of education differ in their perspectives of past, present and future. Education as Formation emphasizes past knowledge rather than an ultimate goal. Education as Recapitulation and Retrospections focuses on education as a progressive order that replicates past evolution. It views education as retrospective, looking primarily at the past. Education as Reconstruction visualizes education as a constant reorganizing of experience, leading ultimately to expanding knowledge by adding to the meaning of experience. The existence of an improved society lies in the ability of educators to bridge the past and the present while looking towards the future.

__Full Summary:__ Whether the past should form the backbone of the process of education is the subject of many theorists. Education as Formation, as represented by Herbart, emphasizes past knowledge, rather than an ultimate goal. Subject matter is to be presented from without, with basic concepts being introduced as a framework for subsequent concepts to build upon. The weakness of this method is that the control originates in the past, rather than looking to the future and a definitive goal.

The theory of Education as Recapitulation and Retrospection states that the individual develops in orderly stages that replicate the past evolution of animal life (physiologically) and human history (educationally). The underlying ideology is that education is essentially retrospective, looking primarily to the past, with an emphasis on literary works of the past. Education should use the products of the past as resources of the present; that is, we should not take them as standards, but rather learn from them to build a better future.

Although the theory of Education as Reconstruction visualizes education as a constant reorganizing of experience, its foundation is experience, which encompasses past actions. However, it expounds education as a reconstruction of experience which adds to the meaning of experience, and which increases the ability to direct the course of subsequent experience. This brings education into the realm of the future.

Education can have its roots in the past, however, it must emphasize the present with an outlook to the future. Education endeavors to shape the experience of the young, so that instead of reproducing current habits, better habits shall be formed, and thus the future adult society will be an improvement of the present one.


 * Key Passages:**

__Education as Formation__: "Education proceeds by instruction taken in a strictly literal sense, a building into the mind from without. That education is formative of mind is not questioned; it is the conception already propounded." Pg 69.

"This or that kind of mind is formed by the use of objects which evoke this or that kind of reaction and which produce this or that arrangement among the reactions called out. The formation of mind is wholly a matter of the presentation of the proper educational materials." Pg 70.

"The effect of new presentations is to reinforce groupings previously formed." Pg 70.

"Then after the presentation, follow the processes of interaction of new and old; then comes the application of the newly formed content to the performance of some task." Pg 71.

__Education as Recapitulation and Retrospection__: "The individual develops, but his proper development consists in repeating in orderly stages the past evolution of animal life and human history. The former recapitulation occurs physiologically; the latter should be made to occur by means of education." Pg 72.

"The distortion of the first point usually comes about through misuse of the idea of heredity. It is assumed that heredity means that past life has somehow predetermined the main traits of an individual, and that they are so fixed that little serious change can be introduced into them. Thus taken, the influence of heredity is opposed to that of the environment, and the efficacy of the latter belittled." Pg 74.

"The theory that the proper subject matter of instruction is found in the culture-products of past ages (either in general, or more specifically in the particular literatures which were produced in the culture epoch which is supposed to correspond with the stage of development of those taught) affords another instance of that divorce between the process and product of growth which has been criticized. To keep the process alive, to keep it alive in ways which make it easier to keep it alive in the future, is the function of educational subject matter. But an individual can live only in the present."

"Heredity is a limit of education. Recognition of this fact prevents the waste of energy and the irritation that ensue from the too prevalent habit of trying to make by instruction something out of an invidual which he is not naturally fitted to become." Pg 74.

"The study of past products will not help us understand the present, because the present is not due to the products, but to the life of which they were the products." Pg 75.

__Education as Reconstruction__: "In its contrast with the ideas both of unfolding of latent powers from within, and of the formation from without, whether by physical nature or by the cultural products of the past, the ideal of growth results in the conception that education is a constant reorganizing or reconstructing of experience." Pg 76

"We thus reach a technical definition of education: It is that reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to the meaning of experience, and which increases ability to direct the course of subsequent experience." Pg. 76 "The increment of meaning corresponds to the increased perception of the connections and continuities of the activities in which we are engaged... The other side of an educative experience is an added power of subsequent direction or control." Pg 76.


 * Important Terminology:**

__Formation:__ The process by which the mind sets up certain associations or connections of content by means of a subject matter presented from without. Pg 69.

__Presentation__: The qualitatively different reactions produced by the mind in reaction to the various realities which act upon it. According to Dewey, presentation is the act of introducing new materials to someone, which in turn are being processed and stored in the mind for future use. This new information represents the essence of the mind.

__Faculties:__ Mental powers such as attention, memory, thinking, and perception.

__Recapitulation__: Repeating in orderly stages the past evolution of animal life and human history.

__Retrospective__: Looking primarily to the past and especially to the literary products of the past. Education can look towards past, and use those privious ideas to formulate new ones. "Since they represent the results of prior experience, their value for future experience may, of course, be indefinitly great." Pg 73.

__Heredity__: For aducational purposes, heredity means neither more nor less than the original endowment of an individual. "It is assumed that heredity means that past life has somehow predetermined the main traits of and individual, and that they are so fixed that little serious change can be introduced into them." Pg 74.

__Reconstruction__: the act or result of making over. "The ideal of growth results in the conception that education is a constant reorganizing or reconstructing of experience." Pg 76. Education is the rearrangement of old experience, which will prepare us for future experience. As we are presented with a new stimulus, this formal encounter will guide our future behavior when we are exposed to it in a different setting. An example is a child who reaches for a bright light gets burned.

__Preparation:__ Process of [bringing out] old presentations in order to assimilate new ones.

__Pedagogue:__ Teacher of children.

__Propounded:__ Proposed.

__Latent:__ Not apparent; under the surface.


 * Discussion Guiding Questions:**
 * According to Dewey, "Heredity is a limit of education. Recognition of this prevents the waste of energy...fitted to become." Pg 74. However, how important is environment in relation to heredity in term of education? Explain.


 * Dewey stated on page 77-78, "Individuals act Capriciously whenever they act under external dictation. Also, school work consists in setting up rules." What did he mean by these statements? Based on societies today, do you think children will learn better with or without external dictation and/or rule? Why?


 * Did any of the three theorists take into consideration the concept of individuality? Compare the role indiviuality played in each theory. Is it important to make such considerations? Why or why not? Can broad generalizations be accurate? Explain.


 * In other fields, other than education, can these three theories be applied successfully? Name such examples and answer why or why not.