Moral development and democratic schooling
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4255380 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Scharf (University of California, Irvine, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1977 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 89-96 |
| Publication date | 1977-04-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Theory Into Practice (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0040-5841 • E-ISSN: 1527-2532 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00405847709542680 |
| OpenAlex | W1966052775 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 5 |
Peter Scharf University of California Program in Social Ecology Irvine, California D emocratic participation in schooling is a rather recent phenomenon. Early American educators clearly did not intend nor believe that students should have a voice in their own education. The colonial school (Bailyn, 1966) was authoritarian, teacher-directed, and often punitive. The meaning of education, until the twentieth century, implied the problem of entrance (i.e., that all children be able to enter the common school) and not the problem of substance (i.e., that education should be structured democratically). Only in the early twentieth century did progressive educators raise the possibility of democratizing the classroom itself. John Dewey, of course, was both the foremost initiator as well as narrator of this movement to democratize the school. In his view schooling in a democratic society requires democratic rhetoric. The structure of the school must reflect its stated democratic aims. He implies that if the ends of education are the creation of a democratic citizen and society, this purpose must be reflected in the organization of the school itself. A principal who justifies using authoritarian means with ademocratic ideology would find these ends soon obviated. Consistent with his views of education as reflective experience, Dewey saw the school providing a natural laboratory for democratic learning. This assumes, of course, a curriculum which added upon and enlightened natural democratic experiences. In his Schools of To-Morrow (1906), Dewey sought to exemplify his beliefs by analyzing the most promising experiments of his day including the revolutionary Gary, Indiana, public schools (Gary Plan). Here, the students were not only involved in school-rule creation but in the democratic maintenance of the school's physical plant
Authoritarianism · Curriculum · Democracy · Democratic Education · Democratic ideals · Ideology · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Progressive Education · Rhetoric · Sociology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Law · Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education
| Citations per year | 0.06 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1978 - 2019 (42) |
| Highly cited | No |