We're All in This Together

"Education is a process of living and not a preparation for future living."

At the risk of being redundant,  I would love to quote an amazing professor to start this blog off. For those  returning subscribers (I require high fives and fist bumps), and for newcomers who I'm thrilled to share this wisdom with, Chris Peterson lived and taught by three simple words, "Other People Matter". As I read through the John Dewey's creed, I couldn't help but think back to some of the things that Professor Peterson stressed so often in his class, the prior quote taking precedence above all others. Without question, the most common theme throughout Dewey's musings is the importance of the social element. A quick ctrl+F of the word "social" reveals roughly 57 times that he uses the word. Now not all of these uses are in direct relation to the point I'm making, but a great number of them are appropriate. For example:

• He suggests that school is primarily a social institution. 
• School should act as a model for social life.
• The true center of subject matter is the student's own social activities.
• Teachers are engaged in training individuals, but also contributing to the forming of a proper social life.
• Schools should advance socially accepted norms and values.
• The primary way that student's learn is through social involvement.
• I think you get the idea.

Now for those of you that don't know, John Dewey was a philosopher, psychologist, and an educational reformer who lived from 1859 to 1952. Remind you of any handsome young bloggers you might know? Exactly, Ryan Gosling (Hey girl, I see you reading this blog, I'm interested in what you have to say too). Back to Dewey, I find it so fascinating that two very different men (Peterson and Dewey) living in two very different times, could arrive at a similar conclusion. Other people matter. They influence us, they encourage us, they educate us, they can do a plethora of things, both good and bad, to us. I think this is what Dewey so passionately conveys in his Pedagogical creed. Other people are so integrated in our lives, that we must recognize all the ways that they influence us. And, from the age of four to anywhere from 18 to ?, where do we spend an immense amount of time? In some school setting. We constantly interact with the spectrum of personalities, interests, values, ideals and opinions. These social influences are absolutely essential to our development and to our education. We see this resurface in other aspects of education as well. The idea of social justice speaks directly to leveling the social and academic playing field for all students. The practice of Developmental Design, which is just one of the many new approaches to teaching, is intimately wedded to developing social interactions between the teacher and students as well as amongst the students. These are just two quick examples drawn from a whole sample.

This makes the idea of technology in the classroom so harrowing, because if you buy into the notion of "other people matter" then the practice of removing social interactions and engagement with people becomes quite frightening. I find this particularly interesting because we read another piece which used the thoughts of Dewey to support further implementing technology in the classroom. Perhaps it is a lesson on how the same piece of text or evidence can be twisted enough to support either side of an argument or perhaps Dewey would have agreed with the authors interpretation. Regardless of what Dewey may have thought, I am confident that he would insist on the students still being socially engaged. 

The recent attacks at the Boston Marathon of 2013 really sum up the extremes of human nature. On the one end, you have senseless, devastating, sadistic destruction. On the other though, and overwhelmingly more popular, you have incredible heroism and altruism; selfless individuals setting outstanding examples for others. This is, in my opinion, the exact sort of social setting that Dewey describes as being so beneficial and critical to education: support, encouragement, and a selfless nature will only benefit us all; and this comes about easiest when we all believe that, "other people matter". This video (which I am getting chills watching again at the moment) sums that up better than I ever could.