Educational Philosophy and Education

John Dewey and Charles Prosser were both instrumental figures in American educational philosophy and pedagogical theory. Both Dewey and Prosser were pragmatists, but each proposed a fundamentally different function for public education. Dewey stressed the importance of education for fostering civic duty and promoting democracy; Prosser remained more concerned with the role education would play in preparing children for vocational careers.

Although both Dewey and Prosser believed education should be applicable to daily life, Dewey believed that Prosser's focus on vocational education might inhibit intrinsic motivation and the development of a person's natural interests, thereby artificially channeling children into specific career paths (Wonacott, 2003). Dewey believed that vocational education presented a danger of becoming too "rote, mechanical, and slavish," (Wonacott, 2003, p. 6). As Labaree (2010) points out, Dewey "lost" the philosophical debate over the role of education as Prosser helped to pass the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, which ensconced vocational education into American society (p. 163).

However, Dewey did not lose the debate entirely, as his foundational educational philosophies laid the foundation for liberal arts education in America. Prosser believed that education was becoming dangerously close to becoming elitist in the sense that it tended to prepare students more for academia and its cerebral culture as opposed to the actual labor force in which most students would ultimately end up.

This may be true, and yet Dewey suggested that instead of denying the relevance of theoretical knowledge, that hands-on learning be combined with exposure to multiple subjects and epistemologies. Prosser was "educating society for jobs rather than culture," and Dewey was interested in the opposite (Steinke & Putnam, n.d., p. 3). Although Dewey seemed to advance a principle of education that was abstract and theoretical, Dewey's educational philosophy is fundamentally pragmatic and experiential. Education is made meaningful through social connections and personal engagement with the material and environment.

Whereas Dewey remained concerned with the way education could or should improve the student's ability to participate fully in civic society, Prosser focused more on how students might contribute to the economy and their personal career development. Prosser's educational philosophy was firmly entrenched in the capitalist system and the market economy system of labor. Although he was not a Marxist, Dewey's educational philosophy more closely addresses issues related to social justice and alienation from labor and the sources of capital production.

Both Dewey and Prosser valued the importance of education in making one's daily life more meaningful, but Dewey's definition of meaning can be considered higher on the Maslow needs hierarchy versus Prosser, whose philosophy focused more on meeting immediate materialistic goals. Part Two Dewey is right that vocational education comes dangerously close to social engineering or "social predestination," (Labaree, 2010, p. 164). Vocational tracking in grade schools can be sexist and racist as well, leading to race-based and gender-based achievement gaps.

Dewey's philosophy of education stresses personal development and critical thought without neglecting the pragmatic components of education such as the application of education to daily life. The Prosser philosophy has merits, but risks reducing the function of education to materialistic aims only. While learning crafts, trades, and specific vocational paths can be useful and perhaps should be a component of education, it should not be the only component.

Technologies and techniques change too rapidly to make vocational education, as Prosser conceptualized it, useful unless ongoing professional development is considered part of the overall functional of lifelong learning. Dewey did not discount vocational education, either. Dewey presents a balanced view of education in which the student is exposed to various methods and materials, and is able to explore and learn according to his or her own interests and predilections. In a democratic society, Dewey's philosophy makes more sense.

Likewise, the ever-changing and dynamic nature of knowledge and the economy also mean that flexibility and breadth is as important if not more so than narrowly focused vocational training. Moreover, vocational training needs to be regularly updated if it is going to be useful. When Prosser developed his educational philosophy, the labor market was completely different than it is today. Vocational training was relatively straightforward.

In an information economy, vocational training involves improving the quality of educational material and pedagogy to prepare students for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, which requires a completely different set of tools and techniques than instructing students in agriculture or manual labor. Blending.