Democracy+and+Education+Chapter+8

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In this chapter, Dewey talks about 'aims' and compares it to results or ends. He applies aims to education. Society has a pre-conceived notion that the aim of educationis to enable individuals to be motivated to continue their educational experiences. In order to complete an activity or goal within the educational system, one must formulate a plan within their mind and work at their own capacities towards accomplishment. One must foresee the future results of an action by evaluation of the present conditions. By doing so, they will be able to act intelligently. They will be able to come up with different alternatives and foresee their future from multiple aspects. Furthermore, they will come up with a solution that best serves their intentions or motives. This section covers exactly how a person is to correctly establish the aims he or she wishes to pursue.
 * Democracy and Education Chapter 8:**
 * Summary:**
 * 1. Aims in Education**
 * 2. Criteria of Good Aims**

Since an abstract or remote external aim is completely impractical and cannot be reached successfully, the aim(s) must have some basis on which to pursue it. The aim is not the main objective. It is the method by which a person reaches the main objective. The aim always represents a feeling of activities for the aimer. Dewey defines an activity as a person "putting before themselves the objects in which it terminates - as one's aim in shooting is the target" (pg.105). An example Dewey uses is the act of shooting a rabbit. The rabbit is the target, but the actual aim is shooting the rabbit so that a person could eat it. Educational aims are no different than any other occupation. For example, in every occupation, there are certain things for each person to do, certain obstacles to contend to, and certain resources to go by. For these aims to work, each person has to utilize certain conditions. For instance, the farmer needs to have references to certain conditions of soil, climate, and characteristic of plant growth, in order to set up a purpose of farming. Similarly, the educator, more specifically the teacher, needs to concentrate on the conditions of each student or each materialistic aspect in the classroom, in order for their aims to be set forward. Consequently, it is important to understand that aims are not to be set up by occupational fields as a whole, but by each person individually. (Such as a parent, a teacher, a farmer, etc). Furthermore, each aim is set forth by an individual person, by change, experience, and growth. The different purposes of the aim are varied; differing from children to children. Each aim changes as the children grow by the teacher's growth of experience. Each individual aim must be founded upon by the native activities and needs of the given individuals; they must be capable of translation by the occupational fields as a whole; and lastly be complex in detail and not general and ultimate in nature.
 * 3. Applications in Education**

“An aim implies an orderly and ordered activity, one in which the order consists in the progressive completing of a process. Given an activity having a time span and cumulative growth within the time succession, an aim means foresight in advance of the end or possible termination. If bees anticipated the consequences of their activity, if they perceived their end in imaginative foresight, they would have the primary element in an aim. Hence it is nonsense to talk about the aim of education -- or any other undertaking -- where conditions do not permit of foresight of results, and do not stimulate a person to look ahead to see what the outcome of a given activity is to be.” (pg 102)
 * Key Passages:**
 * 1. Aims in Education**

"The net conclusion is that acting with an aim is all one with acting intelligently. To foresee a terminus of an act is to have a basis upon which to observe, to select and to order objects and our own capacities. To do these things means to have a mind - for mind is precisely intentional purposeful activity controlled by perception of facts and their relationships to one another. To have a mind to do a thing is to foresee a future possibility; it is to have a plan for its accomplishment; it is to note the means which make the plan capable of execution and the obstructions in the way, - or, if it is really a //mind// to do the thing and not a vague aspiration - it is to have a plan which takes account of resources and difficulties. Mind is capacity to refer present conditions to future results, and future consequences to present conditions." (pg 103).

"The aim set up must be an outgrowth of existing conditions" (Pg 104).
 * 2. Criteria of Good Aims**

"The aim as it first emerges is a mere tentative sketch. The act of striving to realize it tests its worth" (Pg 104).

"The value of a legitimate aim, on the contrary, lies in the fact that we can use it to change conditions" (Pg 105).

"The aim must always represent a freeing of activities" (Pg 105).

"There is nothing peculiar about educational aims. They are just like aim s in any directed occupation" (pg 106).
 * 3. Applications in Education**

"An educational aim must be founded upon the intrinsic activities and needs (including the original instincts and acquired habits) of the given individual to be educated" (pg. 108).

"An aim must be capable of translation into a method of cooperating with the activities of those undergoing instruction" (pg. 108).

"Educators have to be on their guard against ends that are alleged to be general and ultimate" (pg 109).

__Aims__: An anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions. This chapter's title is Aims in Education. Aims end in results (101). Also, aim gives direction to the activity (102). There are careful observations and hindrances, and a proper order, and alternative possibilities. Overall, acting with an aim is acting intelligently (103). An example is building a bridge to connect two islands. The aim is to build the bridge. The end result is the bridge. To build a bridge, you need to have a plan to have it go successfully. __Outcome:__ Something that results. There is a suspected outcome to our actions and aims. The outcome is the result of our aim. In the process of the direction of the aim, the third point is alternative possibilities. If we predict the outcome of the aim, we can judge two ways to achieve the aim and the more desirability one. As persons concerned in the outcome, we are partakers in the process which produces the result (102). We intercede to bring about this result. Same example: the outcome is the bridge.
 * Important Terminology:**
 * pg.100-105**

__True Aims__: Opposed at every point to an aim, a true aim would be the final destination of a goal (110). Where an aim seeks to be flexible, short and tangible, true aims are distant and remote, away from everyday life. True aims, in essence, limit choices for intelligent paths. For example, one student takes a class in Chemistry because it interests him and he understands applications for it. Another student takes a class in chemistry because it is a requirement towards graduation. One student is actively thinking. They are pursuing an interest and seeing how applications they have learned in chemistry could be applied to real life. The other student is forced to take chemistry, regardless of interest. They, simply, take it for their true aim of graduating. __End in view__- the only way in which we can define an activity is by putting before ourselves the objects in which it terminates. For example, according to Dewey, an aim in shooting is the target. The object is the mark or sign by which the mind specifies the activity one desires to carry out. Hitting the target is considered the end in view. Thus, one takes aim by means of the target and sight of the gun. More Educational Information.
 * pg.105-110**


 * Discussion Guiding Questions:**

1) In the very beginning, it is stated that the aim of education is to enable individuals to continue education. And later it states that this particular aim is not applied to all. Why not? Is it possible to peak the interest of others' to learn?

2) Dewey seems to believe that "true aims" do not benefit the individual and should be avoided whenever possible because they "throw us back." What are your thoughts on "true aims?" Can they be helpful at all?