EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

John Dewey, Pragmatism, William James

Human nature is the product of one's environment. Change the environment to change the behavior. Reinforce good behavior, punish bad behavior

Conservation of cultural heritage preserves the wisdom of the achievements of humankind. Behavior evolves within the conditioning influence of the institutional system; tradition is the repository of a collective social intelligence.

Constructivism is an educational methodology which asserts that learners should be taught in a way that allows them to construct their own understandings about a subject. The purpose of the teacher is not to cover material but to help the child "uncover" the facts and ideas in a subject area. Essentialists believe that children should learn traditional basic subjects. (Reading, Writing, Literature, Foreign Languages, History, Math, Science, Art, and Music.) Generally, teaches children progressively, from less complex skills to more complex. Schools should transmit the traditional moral values and intellectual knowledge that students need to become model citizens. Focus is on basic skills.

Existentialism rejects the existe

Dewey was born on 20 October 1859 in Burlington, Vermont, the third of four sons born to Archibald Sprague Dewey (who owned a grocery store) and Lucina Artemisia (née Rich) (a devoutly religious woman), of modest family origins. He attended the University of Vermont in Burlington and graduated in 1879. During this time, he was exposed to evolutionary