In this 2013 John Dewey Society Lecture I examine the history and the structure of the American system of higher education. I argue that the true hero of the story is the evolved "form" of the American university and that all the things we love about it, like free speech, are the side effects of a structure that arose for other purposes.…

Feelings of awe, wonder, and appreciation have been largely ignored in the working lives of scientists and, in turn, science education has not accurately portrayed science to students. In an effort to bring the affective qualities of science into the classroom, this work draws on the writings of the sublime by Burke, Kant, Emerson, and Wordsworth…

In this article, we first suggest that contemporary school policies and practices represent a utopia-gone-wrong. In striving for an unattainable educational utopia--that is, all students will be proficient in math and reading by 2014--current polices and their resulting practices have brought a classic dystopian turn--the dehumanization of…

The proper goal of an introductory logic course, teaching critical thinking, is best achieved by maintaining the principle of continuity between student experiences and the curriculum. To demonstrate this I explain Dewey's naturalistic approach to logic and the process of inquiry, one which presents the elements of traditional logic in the…

Creating a democratic nation-state and sustaining its progress was seen by the founders of the Republic of Turkey as necessary to achieving the goal of becoming a distinguished member among developed civilizations. The founders conceived of education as a main instrument in disseminating this new ideology and ensuring the emergence of a culture of…

Today's social and political context is filled with environmental elements that both support and work against deep, participatory democracy. I argue that certain democratic habits should be nurtured through a supportive formative culture, especially in schools, in order to best achieve good democratic life in the present context. My aim here…

In his books "Public Opinion" and "The Phantom Public," Walter Lippmann argued that policy leaders should deny the public a significant role in policymaking. Public opinion, he argued, would inevitably be ill-informed, self-interested and readily manipulated. In "The Public and its Problems," Dewey countered Lippmann…

This paper focuses on the primary problem of the public, as advanced in "The Public and its Problems," which Dewey described as the need to improve "methods of debate, discussion, and persuasion" for the purposes of "perfecting the process of inquiry" (Dewey, 1927/1954, p. 208). I first situate these modes of…

In its broadest sense, pragmatism could be said to be the philosophical orientation of all action research. Action research is characterized by research, action, and participation grounded in democratic principles and guided by the aim of social improvement. Furthermore, action research is an active process of inquiry that does not admit…

The paper tackles the fundamental question of whether democracy has by now been turned into a meaningless liturgy of a past religion and proposes a Deweyan answer which points to the need to fully realize modernity in order to bring into existence a genuine democracy. By deploying an archaeological reading of "The Public and Its…

This article considers the 2012 Chicago Teachers Strike in light of John Dewey's "The Public and Its Problems." It engages Dewey's conceptualization of practical reason to challenge the educational reform movement's commitment to technocratic decision-making.

The Republic of Togo, like many African former colonies, has struggled to create a system of vocational education that will aid its efforts to move beyond the status of a satellite to Western economies. We incorporate postcolonial, Deweyan and feminist perspectives to understand how lingering colonialism and neo-colonial forces have hampered…

A prospective teacher and a teacher educator enter into a yearlong conversation seeking greater curricular physicality and materiality within its enactment. Dewey's (1938) temporal educative relation of teaching and learning as an ever-present process is helpful, asking both parties to dwell mindfully at the intersections of teaching/learning…

This paper develops a philosophical basis for the concept of community inquiry. Community inquiry derives from pragmatist theory as articulated by Dewey, Peirce, Addams, and others. Following Brendel, we discuss pragmatism in terms of its emphasis on the practical dimensions of inquiry, the pluralistic nature of the tools that are used to study…

Adult education scholars have not yet examined the connections between the philosopher, John Dewey, and the lecturer on adult education, Everett Dean Martin. These scholars generally portray Dewey as indifferent to their field. However, Dewey's correspondence with a New York newspaper editor in 1928, recommending Martin's The Meaning of…