Moral and Democratic Educational Philosophy: John Dewey
According to John Dewey (1916), education and democracy go hand in hand. In order to
develop and put to use the capacities necessary for operating a democratic society, education
must simultaneously promote democratic understanding (ibid). As a starting point, Dewey’s
educational philosophy as conveyed in Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the
Philosophy of Education (1916), provides a common point of reference. Dewey was quite a
liberal thinker for his time and influential in the American progressive education movement
of the late 1800s and early 1900s, which promoted an educational program based upon the
development of cooperative social skills, critical thinking, and democratic behavior within a
community-based environment. Not only is Dewey one of the most well-known
educationalists and “a major contributor to the emerging theory of participatory democracy”,
but both educational systems in this research have drawn upon his philosophy in their
inception, evolution, and contemporary curricular framework (Caspary, 2000: 1). This
section will examine aspects of Dewey’s moral and democratic educational philosophy to
provide a framework for characterizing Japanese and Norwegian moral values education.
The point of departure for exploring Dewey’s philosophy begins with an examination of his
notion of education.