Dewey's Dream: Universities and Democracies in an Age of Education Reform : Civil Society, Public Schools, and Democratic Citizenship

Lee Benson · Ira Richard Harkavy · John L. Puckett

Jan 2007 · Temple University Press

About this ebook

This timely, persuasive, and hopeful book reexamines John Dewey's idea of schools, specifically community schools, as the best places to grow a democratic society that is based on racial, social, and economic justice. The authors assert that American colleges and universities bear a responsibility for-and would benefit substantially from-working with schools to develop democratic schools and communities.

"Dewey's Dream" opens with a reappraisal of Dewey's philosophy and an argument for its continued relevance today. The authors-all well-known in education circles-use illustrations from over 20 years of experience working with public schools in the University of Pennsylvania's local ecological community of West Philadelphia, to demonstrate how their ideas can be put into action. By emphasizing problem-solving as the foundation of education, their work has awakened university students to their social responsibilities. And while the project is still young, it demonstrates that Dewey's Utopian ends of creating optimally participatory democratic societies can lead to practical, constructive school, higher education and community change, development, and improvement.