The Pragmatist Philosophy of Education

ED203: Philosophy of Education Graduate School

Pragmatism: Education as a social Institution

Education has a social function Education is a social establishment It is the first and foremost social
phenomenon where society may renew itself It is also a process which in essence is social, while
embracing individuals, they are at the same time society cast into individual forms

Justification for the existence of the SCHOOL as a distinct institution

1. It is necessary for it supplies the volume of learning which new generations need

2. The complexity of modern life requires that man must have the help of others of his generation for he
cannot depend upon himself Man also needs the help from men who lived in times past even from
generations centuries apart from his generation

3. The former statements tell us that the school is needed for fruitful functioning and the perpetuation
of the past heritage to the present BUT such transmission of a heritage requires language as a medium
of communication Language has become so complicated and extensive and most of the heritage of the
past were preserved in writing … children then must achieve a good command of language in order to
make use of it… only the schools could accomplish this.

Justification for the existence of the SCHOOL as a distinct institution

Without an institution designed to fulfill our educational task society cannot hope to advance…the
school then has to function well..it must maintain an intimate relationship with society if it’s true role is
to be played well

1. Society is so complex, as a specialized institution it can represent society to the child in a simplified
form which makes learning possible, whereas the child might never get beyond confusion if confronted
only by the complexity of society as it is.

The FUNCTION of the SCHOOL as a distinct institution

2. Society is not perfect…there are aspects which are unworthy and may mislead or provide wrong
education… thus the school must be selective qualitatively as it presents society to the young. The
school is in a position to choose those social experience that are conducive to wholesome learning and
exclude those which are not.

The FUNCTION of the SCHOOL as a distinct institution

3. The school has the responsibility of giving the learner a balanced and genuinely representative
acquaintance with society at the same time that it simplifies and purifies the acquaintance. The
approach should be democratic not leaning to any perspective or any group….
 It is here that we can see that for pragmatic educators…the school and the society are closely knit with
one another as the surfaces of the same coin.

The FUNCTION of the SCHOOL as a distinct institution

The Objectives of Education

The main objective of pragmatic educational philosophy is actually SOCIAL EFFICIENCY. They believe that
“the values of life which are in life processes are quite proportioned to the effectiveness of an
individual’s relation to society. John Dewey himself has pronounced that if there is an education it must
aim for natural development and social efficiency, which is not one sided but a many sided effectiveness
in maintaining social relations of all kinds.

The Educative Process

A. THE LEARNER – they admit that the learner has a biological, psychological and social aspect affecting
the learner. And so every learner is likened to a river… always in flux. Thus, learners must be guided so
that they will be reasonably at home with this all-embracing flow which they are part. Biological
physiological psychological acquisition of language (sociological) SELF

The Educative Process

For John Dewey; Education starts with the needs and interests of the child, allows the child to
participate in planning her course of study, employ project method or group learning, depend heavily or
experiential learning Children are active, organic beings…needing both freedom and responsibility Ideas
are not separate from social conditions, philosophy has a responsibility to society

B. For John Dewey, THE ROLE of the TEACHER would be: Not the authoritarian but the
facilitator…encourages, offers suggestions, questions and helps plan and implement courses of
study…has command of several disciplines The teacher cannot consider himself separate himself with
the group. He must teach and at the same time learn…

The Educative Process

C. The METHOD Use methods that would tend his students become creative and constructive. He
teaches the skills in solving problems so that when the learner grows, he would have something to
defeat or overcome problems confronting him… i.e. young students trained to repair or invent things
…they put into practice theories they have learned…

The Educative Process

In addition, the teacher may make use of methods that would expose learners to the reality outside the
classroom like bringing them to fieldtrips, excursions, library research, and other experiences that have
bearing on their growth and development as learners… Pragmatic method is an activity-centered one
The Educative Process

Pragmatism had been wary about traditional mode of education citing its too formal atmosphere this
now connects pragmatism and progressivism which is actually a reaction to the former style of
education. The old education was an education of imposition; imposition from above and outside the
learner’s experience; imposition of adult standards; of subject matter; of methods and the like.

The Educative Process

The new education (Pragmatic/Progressive) substituted expression and cultivation of individuality for
impositions; there is greater freedom of activity; paralleled learning from texts and teachers with
learning from experience. Education now has corrected the general objective of preparing for a remote
future by full exploitation of concerns to make the most out of the present opportunities.

The Educative Process

Pragmatists put much weight on experience … “experiences are capable of being put to educative use if
they can be formed in such a way that the individual and the group participate in an orderliness
stemming from social control…” One could sense here the importance of the role of the teacher in the
educative process.

The Educative Process

“… It is part of the educator’s responsibility to see that first, that the problems grow out from within the
experience of the learner and that it is within the capacity of the learner and second, that it arouses in
the learner an active quest for information and production of new ideas.” - John Dewey This emphasizes
that for Pragmatism, all learning starts with human experience.

The Educative Process

Conclusion: Strengths

1. We live by the present experience that we have. To stay mentally healthy we learn to live our life in
the present and not behind us and even the future of us…they may however have an impact to our
present life

2. Pragmatism offers to discern the ways of experience and offers some resources on how we control
experience.

3. Pragmatism had shown that educative happenings cannot be equated with what the teacher does,
with class sessions, courses of study, schedules, nor any of the formal ways of educational institutions. It
has shown that learning is a continuous process. • Education will not be the same as traditional as
before…

Conclusion: Strengths
1. Too much belief in the experimental method (science)…are there no other methods that we can use?
2. Pragmatism posits the idea that seems to say that everything is indeterminate. But how do we move
out from this? In fact there are experiences that even without our control, they deliver us and not
always as posing difficulties. Could these evidence a reality beyond the phenomena which they oppose?
(against the agnostic tendency of Pragmatism)

Conclusion: Weaknesses

3. There is a tendency for Pragmatist to look at the learner as one that has an intricate relation with
society. That its self is only a self because of its tie with society.

• The learner who has become what s/he is a product of his relation/interaction with society but prior to
it is a basic self which made possible the change…

Conclusion: Weaknesses

4. The objective of social efficiency is too limited. Social efficiency only does justice with the social self
but not with the ultimate ends of selfhood itself.

• It must therefore include the fullest realization of the self and the ultimate society of ends in which
the slef finds its true home.

Conclusion: Weaknesses

5. The experimental method seems to be applied arbitrarily and too universally as an educational
method. This is because of their concept of utility…

• However, other methods could also be effectively use, i.e., the method of providing an occasion and
inspiration where the self could start learning and not by using a problem…

Conclusion: Weaknesses

FINAL NOTES:

Many would say that the idea of progressivism has not actually originated from pragmatism it was only
later that pragmatism itself has provided the structure for progressivism They believe that education is a
necessity of life and that it must not be taken as a preparation for life but is life itself.

FINAL NOTES:

Education should be an experimental enterprise that assists in social renewal. In terms of method, they
would prefer those that are flexible and capable of being used in a variety of ways. Pragmatists are
adherents of action-oriented education, they would suggest an activityoriented approach so that
learners could learn how to attack problems.

FINAL NOTES:
Education should be an experimental enterprise that assists in social renewal. In terms of method, they
would prefer those that are flexible and capable of being used in a variety of ways. Pragmatists are
adherents of action-oriented education, they would suggest an activityoriented approach so that
learners could learn how to attack problems.

Pragmatists tend towards a broad education rather than a specialized one. They advocate “problem-
centered learning,” the “core Curriculum”, the “project method’” and the problems approach in
teaching. Thus, ultimately pragmatism as a philosophy of education would try to recast the old type of
education to renew, to reconstruct and make society progressive.