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processes? “Morals”? Deliberate “action”? How can any of this
be taught if, as Dewey writes in How We Think, “Since learning
is something that the pupil has to do himself and for himself,
the initiative lies with the learner” (36)?
Like Perry’s report from his research at Harvard, Dewey’s
philosophy is not overly concerned with offering any practical
advice for teachers who would bring his theories of “reflective
thought” or deliberate “action” to their classes and their
students therein. Furthermore, because his philosophy is not
intended for any particular academic field or subject but,
instead, the whole of “education,” it must be adapted to fit the
philosophies of those particular fields, such as, with my
situation, the teaching of writing. But as I was told many
years ago now, it is more crucial to contemplate and analyze and
explore my own pedagogy, my own teaching philosophy, than to
fill some “tool box” with assignments and techniques. The
latter has to rise, organically, out of the former. Otherwise,
I simply have some “tricks” but not the theoretical foundation
of how to use them – and why. To that end, Dewey’s philosophy
is channeled through a particular view of a teacher’s
relationship to students. Following his frank rebuke against
“bricks” in Democracy and Education, he had this to say about
what the teacher’s role should be in the classroom: “The
teacher is a guide and director; he steers the boat, but the
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