The Value of Experience in Education : John Dewey

The Value of Experience in Education: John Dewey Carlos Aedo, May 2002 Although Experience and Education is an analysis of "traditional" and "progressive" education, it is also a clear and concise statement of Dewey's basic criteria of experience. He uses continuity and interaction to describe the latitudinal and longitudinal aspects of experience (EE, 42). Continuity describes the aspects of experience as they relate to the individual. An appropriate experience modifies the person who has the experience, and the quality of subsequent experiences. Continuity is desirable when it fosters growth, arouses curiosity, and carries a person to a new and stronger place in the future. Interaction describes the aspects of experience as they relate to the environment. An experience has an active component which changes the context in which experiences are had: society and the physical world and its conditions. An experience should have appropriate interaction between objective and internal conditions. When the individual components and environmental components of an experience are working together, they form a situation —a complete and whole experience which changes both the user and the context of use. Even though I had heard about John Dewey, I knew nothing concrete about his philosophy. I wanted to understand a little bit more about him and why he has been so important in American philosophy of education. In this sense, I chose one of his most readable works to begin with, i.e. Experience and Education. The following pages are the