Was John Dewey Ethnocentric?

Fallace, Thomas D.

doi:10.3102/0013189x10379047

Cited by 24 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

Section: Racial Thinking Of Early White Pedagogical Progressives (188...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a series of articles and a book, Fallace (2008, 2010, 2011, 2015b, 2015c) argued that previous scholarship on Dewey had erroneously depicted his racial views as static, when, in fact, Dewey’s views evolved between the 1890s and World War I. Fallace (2010) argued that before World War I, “Dewey considered American non-White minorities to be biologically and psychically equal to Whites but socially deficient” (p. 471). However, during and after the war, Fallace (2010) elaborated, “Dewey forged important new positions” on race that allowed him to “remove the elements that made reference to the cultural deficiency of non-White groups” (p. 476).…”

Section: Racial Thinking Of Early White Pedagogical Progressives (188...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fallace (2010) argued that before World War I, “Dewey considered American non-White minorities to be biologically and psychically equal to Whites but socially deficient” (p. 471). However, during and after the war, Fallace (2010) elaborated, “Dewey forged important new positions” on race that allowed him to “remove the elements that made reference to the cultural deficiency of non-White groups” (p. 476). Thus, Fallace agreed with Sullivan (2003) and Margonis (2009) that Dewey’s pre-1916 work employed an assimilationist view of culture based on the savagery-barbarian-civilization developmental scale that was dismissive of non-White cultures.…”

Section: Racial Thinking Of Early White Pedagogical Progressives (188...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

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

Hines

Fallace

2022

Review of Educational Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article offers a critical review of the literature on how race played into the historical development of pedagogical progressivism in the late-19th and early-20th-century United States. While many historians have focused on the overt/covert racism inherent in much of progressive pedagogy as espoused by White educators, others have highlighted the ways in pedagogical progressivism supported movements toward liberation and social justice, especially when taken up by Black educators. Thus, the historical treatment of pedagogical progressivism is becoming more nuanced by incorporating the work of Black scholars, school leaders, curriculum designers, and teachers.

show abstract

Section: Racial Thinking Of Early White Pedagogical Progressives (188...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Racial Thinking Of Early White Pedagogical Progressives (188...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Racial Thinking Of Early White Pedagogical Progressives (188...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

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

Hines

Fallace

2022

Review of Educational Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Doubtless the first answer to occur to mind is because savages are savages; beings of low-grade intelligence and perhaps defective moral sense" (Dewey, 1916). Although, in this example, Dewey goes on to argue that the "savage" is not inherently less intelligent, he comfortably uses problematic terminology, even for that particular era (Fallace, 2010), and employs the racist notion that savages are capable of becoming civilized should they gain access to the "civilizer's" culture. As much as Dewey's philosophical foundations provide future inroads into how critical racial theories can address issues of racial justice, transformative education, and critical pedagogy, Dewey's theories also belie the very structure these critical tools seek to dismantle in the process of creating "his" democratic ideal in education.…”

Section: Re-constituting Article I: Democracy and Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interrogating Democracy, Education, and Modern White Supremacy: A (Re)Constitution Toward Racially Just Democratic Teacher Education

Matias

Hannegan-Martinez

Heilig

2022

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background/Context: Almost 100 years ago, John Dewey advocated for a democratic U.S. educational system, one that echoed the tenets of the U.S. Constitution and achieved an ethical ideal by inviting participation of all students. Yet the U.S. educational system continues to stop short of this goal insofar as students of Color—especially those in urban school districts—disproportionately face obstacles not so encountered by white students. Purpose/Focus of Study: If democracy in the United States is characterized by freedom, equality, and liberty, the inherent question is whether these rights are enjoyed in equivalent degrees among all citizens against the context of white nationalist marches, police brutality, racially targeted mass shootings, and racial bias in education and society. Setting: Despite historical strides in civil rights, today’s United States has become increasingly racialized and—some would argue—indicative of a neo-fascist climate wherein whiteness and white supremacy prevail. Subjects: How does this racial tension manifest in teacher education, a field in which racialized whiteness is already so “overwhelming” and most teacher candidates are white? What is the current state of “democratic” education in the United States given the historical bias against students of Color? Can schools, educators, and advocates achieve Dewey’s democratic ideal? Research Design: Using critical race theory and critical studies of whiteness, we theoretically explore a new “constitution” for the state of education, specifically teacher education, in today’s climate to posit whether democratic education can truly exist in the midst of systemic racism. Conclusion/Recommendations: We consider examples from within both teacher education and U.S. society writ large to show associations among attitudes, dispositions, and ideologies as aligned with racialized whiteness and then offer more just recommendations for educators attempting to resist racism in order to create a more democratic educational space.

show abstract

“…5 While Dewey may have believed that some societies were relatively more advanced in their institutions and technological capabilities, especially as they became more democratic, it is not altogether clear that he considered such attributes a predictable or necessary outcome of history. There is little evidence that Dewey believed that all societies passed through preordained stages of development or evolved in the same manner.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

DEWEY ON CIVIL RIGHTS, TESTING, INTEREST, AND DISCIPLINE:DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATIONIN PERSPECTIVE

Rury

Rice

2017

J. gilded age prog. era

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this essay we consider how the principles evident in Dewey's Democracy and Education would have been evident in response to the civil rights movement that took shape shortly after his death, and to the major educational reform movements of today. While acknowledging that Dewey's views on race and human development were inevitably influenced by his social and intellectual context, we maintain that he was fundamentally opposed to racist ideology and related popular beliefs, and that his deep commitment to democracy as a social process would have made him a staunch supporter of the civil rights movement and associated demands for racial equality. We likewise argue that Dewey would have had deep misgivings about the standards-driven assessment regimes that underlie current national reform efforts. In the end we suggest that Democracy and Education still has much to offer students of education today, and can serve as a helpful guide to those who would seek to change educational practice for the better.John Dewey was an intellectual giant and Democracy and Education (D&E) remains among the most important books written about education in the twentieth century. 1 On the centennial of its publication, however, it rarely receives much attention outside academic discussions in philosophy and education. Even then it is often read with an eye toward answering a particular philosophical question or learning something more about Dewey himself. For today's readers outside academia (and many within), D&E can seem dated and obscure. In its pages Dewey addresses problems of the past, and he does so in a language that many find formal and awkward. 2 How could such a book possibly be considered relevant to the educational problems of today, or even the more recent past? Does Dewey's conception of educational reform and social change have a place in contemporary debates about the future of schools and their larger social context? Why should we still read this work?Dewey also has been subject to criticism lately. He has been accused of willful blindness with respect to racial inequity, imperialism, and a number of other contemporaneous social problems. Like other educators in his time, Dewey sometimes displayed an affinity for the idea that children's social development and learning could parallel or reflect the evolution of human society. Early in his career, he advocated a curriculum that featured lessons based on customs, concepts, and technology from earlier epochs of human

show abstract

Was John Dewey Ethnocentric?

Cited by 24 publications

References 25 publications

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

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

Interrogating Democracy, Education, and Modern White Supremacy: A (Re)Constitution Toward Racially Just Democratic Teacher Education

DEWEY ON CIVIL RIGHTS, TESTING, INTEREST, AND DISCIPLINE:DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATIONIN PERSPECTIVE

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About