PRESENTING SUPERB RESEARCH THAT ADVANCES THE FIELD OF EDUCATION
The Classroom Teacher and the Individual School Child
John Dewey’s Bridgewater Normal School Lectures (1922)
- Publisher
Myers Education Press - ISBN 9781975507619
- Language English
- Pages 100 pp.
- Size 6" x 9"
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- Publisher
Myers Education Press - ISBN 9781975507633
- Language English
- Pages 100 pp.
- Size 6" x 9"
John Dewey (1859–1952), one of the most prominent American intellectuals for the first half of the twentieth century, is considered by many to be the father of public education, advocating for the concept that the purpose of public education was to develop an informed citizenry that prepared them for active participation in public life. He was highly regarded for his lectures on the power of pedagogy, best documented in his seminal volume, Democracy and Education, a book that remains as relevant today as when it first published more than 100 years ago.
He was famous for other lectures as well. Among them are the Bridgewater Lectures of 1922, represented here for the first time as a freestanding volume. Dewey gave these lectures at the Bridgewater Normal School in Bridgewater, MA, an institution founded by Horace Mann. The lectures touch on three themes:
- Social Purposes in Education
- Individuality in Education
- The Classroom Teacher
Additionally, the volume contains three interpretive essays by recognized experts in the philosophy and pedagogy of Dewey:
- The Course and Its Occurrences
- Individuality, Sociality, and Temporality: Reflections on Dewey’s Bridgewater Lectures of 1922
- Dewey’s Bridgewater Lectures and the Emergence of the Aesthetic in His Later Works
“This centennial edition of John Dewey’s 1923 Bridgewater Lectures highlights the continuing relevance of Dewey’s idea of individuality. With an accessible introduction by Leonard Waks situating the lectures in Dewey’s broader philosophy of education and three well-crafted essays by leading Dewey scholars, this book is invaluable reading for students and experts. Readers will discover significant connections between the Bridgewater Lectures and themes in Dewey’s later major works Experience and Nature and Art as Experience. In our current times, when education is increasingly reduced to the mechanical, deadening task of memorization for performance on tests, this book offers new insight into Dewey’s vision of the creativity, vitality, and artistry of meaningful education and the important role of teachers in respecting and responding to the uniqueness of every learner.”
Andrea R. English, Professor of Philosophy of Education, University of Edinburgh, President of the John Dewey Society
“Leonard Waks’ gem of a book offers us three remarkable lectures Dewey delivered at the Bridgewater State Normal School in 1922. They show us Dewey directly engaging with the social, individual, and intellectual dimensions of education and articulating his belief that teaching is a form of creative artistry rather than mechanical compliance. Waks’ illuminating introduction situates the lectures within Dewey’s broader philosophical architecture, while Dewey scholars Thomas Alexander, Vincent Colapietro, and Paul Cherlin provide incisive interpretive essays. Readers will discover why Dewey believed the classroom teacher plays an indispensable role, a vision that remains urgently relevant for contemporary debates about pedagogy, individuality, and democratic education. An essential work for educators, philosophers of education, and anyone who seeks to learn what authentic teaching requires.”
David L. Hildebrand, PhD., Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado Denver, Past President of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy
Introduction
Individuality and the Art of Classroom Teaching by Leonard J. Waks
The Bridgewater Lectures of 1922
Chapter One
Social Purposes in Education (1922) by John Dewey
Chapter Two
Individuality in Education (1922) by John Dewey
Chapter Three
The Classroom Teacher (1922) by John Dewey
Original Interpretive Essays
Chapter Four
The Course and Its Occurrences by Paul B. Cherlin
Chapter Five
Individuality, Sociality, and Temporality: Reflections on Dewey’s Bridgewater Lectures of 1922 by Vincent Colapietro
Chapter Six
Dewey’s Bridgewater Lectures and the Emergence of the Aesthetic in His Later Works by Thomas Alexander
Bibliography
Index
NOTE: Table of Contents subject to change up until publication date.
Leonard J. Waks
Leonard Waks earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin. He taught philosophy at Purdue and Stanford, and education at Temple, retiring in 2005. From 2018 to 2021 he was Distinguished Professor of Educational Studies at Hangzhou Normal University in China. He is past-president of the John Dewey Society and was the founding editor of Dewey Studies. In addition to numerous articles, he is the author of Education 2.0 (2014), The Evolution and Evaluation of Massive Online Courses (2017), and editor (with Andrea English) of John Dewey’s Democracy and Education: A Centennial Handbook (2017).