John Dewey and the Immigrants

Abstract

John Dewey has been the subject of comment and criticism for over three-quarters of a century. Often, especially in recent writing on the history of education, the criticism has been divided between those who, to use Richard LaBreque's colorful language, see Dewey as the “good guy” and those who see him as the “bad guy.” Among the latter, sometimes collectively called “revisionists,” are Clarence Karier, Walter Feinberg, and Colin Greer. Charles Tesconi and Van Cleve Morris have recently co-authored a book emphasizing similar themes. Their attacks on Dewey and other liberals have centered around the rather vaguely defined issue of social control. As Michael Katz says in his discussion of twentieth century school reform in Class, Bureaucracy and Schools, “Nonetheless, there is a darker side to the social thought of even the best progressives, notably Dewey and Jane Addams, … Briefly, the emphasis on community in Jane Addams and the definitions of democracy and experience in Dewey provide particularly subtle and sophisticated instances the widespread attempt in their time to foster modes of social control appropriate to a complex urban environment.”

Tracing John Dewey's Influence on Progressive Education, 1903–1951: Toward a Received Dewey

“…The third limitation is linked to the previous two; many historians simply assume that because they have read all of Dewey's major works on education-and in many cases his more obscure works-the reformers of the past must (or should) have done so also. Thus, the historical actors of the past are held accountable for their misapplications of Dewey because the reformers presumably had access to "the more accurate" Dewey available in his texts (see, for example, Eiesle, 1975;Yengo, 1965;Wirth, 1966). As Cremin (1961) insisted, "too many of those who quoted [Dewey] did not read on, if, indeed, they read him at all" (p. 238).…”

Pedagogical Progressivism and Black Education: A Historiographical Review, 1880–1957

“…Dewey’s racial views first came under scrutiny in the 1970s by Karier (1973) and Feinberg (1975), who drew attention to his unflattering study of the unassimilated Polish community (considered by many to be a “race” at the time) during World War I, as well as Dewey’s endorsement of the racially segregated schools in his coauthored book, Schools of To-morrow (Dewey & Dewey, 1915). In the 1970s, leading Dewey scholars (Eiesle, 1975; Greene, 1975; Miller, 1974; Zerby, 1975) launched a counterattack against Karier and Feinberg by providing context for Dewey’s views on unassimilated Poles and drawing attention to his role in forging the anti-racist doctrine of cultural pluralism. Goodenow’s (1975, 1978a, 1978b, 1981) pioneering studies of the racial views of Dewey and other leading pedagogical progressives, such as William Heard Kilpatrick and George S. Counts, further underscored their anti-racist but also assimilationist positions on race.…”

Was John Dewey Ethnocentric?

“…The small literature on Dewey’s views on race can be divided into five camps. Some scholars generally praise Dewey for his enlightened philosophical views on race and its relationship to broader social issues (Burkes, 1997; Eiesle, 1975; Goodenow, 1977; Pappas, 2002; Stack, 2009). Others view Dewey’s philosophy as entirely inadequate for the multicultural world and consider his relative silence on issues of racial discrimination and injustice inexcusable (Margonis, 2009; Sullivan, 2003).…”