John Dewey

John Dewey

Biographical Details

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Born: October 20, 1859 (Burlington, Vermont)

Died: June 1, 1952

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He was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer. He is recognized as= the Father of modern education. He received his Ph.D. from the School of Ar= ts & Sciences at Joh= n Hopkins University in 1884. Dewey was involved in writing many articles and books on vario= us principles of psychology. He developed ideas of evolutionary democracy, education and law.

Ideas pertaining to Religious Education<= /span>

* John Dewey was a relativist and a humanist= .

* John Dewey saw the important role that rel= igious institutions and practices played in human life, though he rejected the belief in any static ideal. He felt that only scientific methods could reliably further human good.

* On the topic of God, Dewey states,

“it denotes= the unity of all ideal ends arousing us to desire and actions”. (A Co= mmon Faith p.42)

* Relativism denies the absolute and God is absolute, therefore the Word of God teaches absolute.=

* Dewey did not believe in God or the Bible,= he thought that evolution and change denounced the existence of God, and therefore, Scriptures, meaningless.

* John Dewey was strongly opposed to anythin= g that would help Christian faith in children.

* Many Founding Fathers disagreed with John Dewey’s beliefs.

* Dewey believed that learning was active and school was unnecessarily long and restrictive.

* He believed that education was “what nutrition and reproduction are to physiological life, education is to social life”. He wa= s very much interested in hands-on learning or experiential education, where students were involved in real-life tasks and challenges.

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Useful Websites

(where = to find out more about John Dewey)

http://en.wikipedia.or= g/wiki/John_Dewey

www.christianparent= s.com/jdewey.htm

http://wilderdom.com/experiential/JohnDeweyPhilosophyEducation.html

http://www.johndewey.org

= http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3D8009791051515751015

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Insightful Quotes

“Intellectually, religious emotions are not creative but conservative. They attach themselves readily= to the current view of the world and consecrate it.”

“Give the pupils something t= o do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking’ learning naturally results.”

“Education is not preparati= on for life; education is life itself.”

“To me faith means not worrying.”

John Dewey =