- Jan 2017
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marginalsyllab.us marginalsyllab.us
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Indeed, almost the only measure for success is a competitive one, in the bad sense of that term—a comparison of results in the recitation or in the examination to see which child has succeeded in getting ahead of others in storing up, in accumulating the maximum of information. So thoroughly is this the prevalent atmosphere that for one child to help another in his task has become a school crime.
I see this is Dewey's critique of human capital (as measured by high-stakes tests) and the offering of social capital as a contrast (i.e. "one child to help another.")
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he school itself shall be made a genuine form of active community life, instead of a place set apart in which to learn lessons
Along with "...society keeps itself going," this is another phrase that opens the door to green, healthy, and sustainable schools.
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the girls to be more efficient house managers, if not actually cooks and sempstresses; the boys (were our educational system only adequately rounded out into trade schools) for their future vocations.
We cannot dismiss Dewey's writing because he fails to connect democracy with feminism.
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how shall we retain these advantages, and yet introduce into the school something representing the other side of life—occupations which exact personal responsibilities and which train the child with relation to the physical realities of life?
Green, healthy, and sustainable schools. If we consider the larger social aims of education, then it makes sense that students and staff deserve to attend beautiful schools that conserve energy and water -- and that student know why this is a local and global issue.
Healthy schools advance wellness -- personally and socially (and physically). Being a free individual and respectfully relating to others is democratic. What experiences should students have so that they can exercise their creativity within the arts, sciences and humanities?
Sustainable schools advance opportunities for students to study and experience the equity between people, planet and prosperity.
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Verbal memory can be trained in committing tasks, a certain discipline of the reasoning powers can be acquired through lessons in science and mathematics; but, after all, this is somewhat remote and shadowy compared with the training of attention and of judgment that is acquired in having to do things with a real motive behind and a real outcome ahead.
He is drawing a distinction between behaviorism and constructivism. High stakes standardized tests focus on the former; portfolios and student-generated artifacts focus on the latter.
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How many of the employed are today mere appendages to the machines which they operate!
Dewey does not ignore Marxist conceptions of "alienation." He implies existentialism, however, not only through social consciousness, but in the liberation of the individual.
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if we could take them to the place where the sheep are sheared
Here is warrmb7's field trip.
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