Dewey, work, school, and democracy

Slavko Gaber

Summary:   With his support for manual work (including sewing, spinning, metalwork, and woodwork) in schools, John Dewey appears at first glance to favor the subordination of education to the production process. Contrary to expectations, however, he developed his reflections on school, activity, work, and society in the direction of a broadly conceived education. Both at the time of the lectures published as The School and Society (1899) and his best-known work on the theme of education, Democracy and Education (1916), he remained faithful to the commitment of an education that will allow students to be citizens that live in a democratic society with the capacity to shape their culture.