This essay examines contemporary digital educational assessment and argues that there are underlying problematic values and consequences entailed by the datafication of education as coupled with assessment practices. By applying Dewey's work concerning curriculum, aims, growth, and the conception of democracy through education to current methods,…

In light of decades of formal denouncement of Deweyan ideas in China and the increasingly authoritarian practices under its current leadership, the recent revival of engagement with Dewey's work among Chinese educators and intellectuals appears extraordinary as well as paradoxical. How is it possible that a project as ardently democratic as…

John Dewey went to China in 1919 and stayed for more than two years. He watched and learned. He wrote and spoke volumes both while he was there and after he returned. One hundred years later, we are unsurprisingly interested in whether Dewey's time in China left a trace.

This paper considers elementary teachers' perceptions of data-driven decision making (DDDM) through the lens of Dewey's science of education. Dewey argues that educational science can be used to improve teaching and learning, but it must be flexible, attendant to multiple dimensions of growth, and grounded in real classroom experiences with…

While questions surrounding the relationship between education and technology have captured the attention of philosophers of education in recent decades, such concerns have taken on new import. Particularly in the post COVID-19 educational landscape, EdTech has become bound up with power and ideology in ways that warrant ongoing scrutiny. Building…

Many schools today are driven by metrics intended to quantify student achievement, ostensibly in the interest of ensuring quality and accountability in public schools. In practice, this emphasis on performance over experience narrows schools' potential to foster student growth toward democratic citizenship. This article offers a constructive…

Between 1919-1920, while giving a series of speeches in China, John Dewey raised a doubt about Chinese education: Can Chinese education cultivate children with independent consciousness? Based on the sevenyear "Reciprocal Learning in Teacher Education and School Education between Canada and China" project, we have the answer to Dewey's…

In "Democracy and Education," John Dewey argued that teachers should have control over their own work. He was, though, not only concerned about workplace democracy for teachers. He also argued against the philosophical underpinnings of educational policies that reproduced social hierarchies in the workplace. The main arguments of Dewey's…

In this study, we examine Dewey's understanding of ethical principles by identifying a number of his primary emphases, including how he thought principles may be reconstructed and employed in schools. We do this by (a) explicating how he understood the reconstruction of general, universal, and absolute ethical claims; (b) anticipating how some…

In this paper, we explore the degree to which the Buddhist mindfulness practice and the habits of democratic citizenship can be reconstructed in light of each other. We ask what mindfulness is, seeking to first understand it in its Buddhist context. Then we turn to the work of John Dewey in order to seek possibilities for mutual reconstruction.…

As the world grows increasingly contentious, education for citizenship demands greater attention. Yet at this perilous juncture, social studies has neglected to take up the task of preparing citizens in a democratic and global society. Social studies has become increasingly fragmented and isolated by disciplinary foci that fetishize academic…

Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" is taught in countless public schools and is beloved by many teachers and future teachers. Embedded within this novel--interestingly--is a strong criticism of an approach to education mockingly referred to as the "Dewey Decimal System." In this essay I explore Lee's criticism of…

John Dewey was a progressive theorist, a pragmatist, a philosopher, and arguably the most influential American educator of the twentieth century. Yet, despite extensive documentation about John Dewey's philosophies of education and democracy, there is limited research and no consensus about Dewey's views about race and racism. I use a combination…

This essay situates John Dewey in the context of the founding of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in 1915. We argue that the 1915 Declaration of Principles, together with World War I, provides contemporary academics important historical justification for rethinking academic freedom and faculty governance in light of…

As a philosopher, Dewey relied on others to represent and realize the practical implications of his ideas for classroom life. While many educators have ably done so, the empirically grounded markers and measures that Dewey saw as necessary for strengthening progressive practice and communicating with the broader field remain underdeveloped. Here,…