The school and society — Story, Setting & Ideas

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In Category - Educational Theory

Authors: Dewey, John, 1859-1952 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2024 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Education -- Philosophy; Educational sociology Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 37,070

Reading time 162 min

Text sections 13

This digital edition of The school and society — Story, Setting & Ideas is described by source-level measurements including 37,070 words, 2 hr 42 min estimated reading time, and 13 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 27.5 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Education -- Philosophy,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #74376

John Dewey's 1899 lectures on the University Elementary School argue for education rooted in social experience, not rote learning. The text's spoken-word cadence and concrete examples reveal a philosopher testing theory against practice.

Editorial Edition Score 4.7/5

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Edition quality

File: pg74376

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THE SCHOOL AND SOCIETY

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY NEW YORK

THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON

_The_ SCHOOL _and_ SOCIETY

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO · ILLINOIS

COMPOSED AND PRINTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.

TO MRS. EMMONS BLAINE TO WHOSE INTEREST IN EDUCATIONAL REFORM THE APPEARANCE OF THIS BOOK IS DUE

I. THE SCHOOL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 3 II. THE SCHOOL AND THE LIFE OF THE CHILD 31 III. WASTE IN EDUCATION 59 IV. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 87 V. FROEBEL’S EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES 111 VI. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OCCUPATIONS 131 VII. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ATTENTION 141 VIII. THE AIM OF HISTORY IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 155

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

DRAWING OF A CAVE AND TREES 40 DRAWING OF A FOREST 42 DRAWING OF HANDS SPINNING 44 DRAWING OF A GIRL SPINNING 46

The first three chapters of this book were delivered as lectures before an audience of parents and others interested in the University Elementary School, in the month of April of the year 1899. Mr. Dewey revised them in part from a stenographic report, and unimportant changes and the slight adaptations necessary for the press have been made in his absence. The lectures retain therefore the unstudied character as well as the power of the spoken word. As they imply more or less familiarity with the work of the Elementary School, Mr. Dewey’s supplementary statement of this has been added.

A second printing affords a grateful opportunity for recalling that this little book is a sign of the co-operating thoughts and sympathies of many persons. Its indebtedness to Mrs. Emmons Blaine is partly indicated in the dedication. From my friends Mr. and Mrs. George Herbert Mead came that interest, unflagging attention to detail, and artistic taste which, in my absence, remade colloquial remarks until they were fit to print, and then saw the results through the press with the present attractive result—a mode of authorship made easy, which I recommend to others fortunate enough to possess such friends.

It would be an extended paragraph which should list all the friends whose timely and persisting generosity has made possible the school which inspired and defined the ideas of these pages. These friends, I am sure, would be the first to recognize the peculiar appropriateness of especial mention of the names of Mrs. Charles R. Crane and Mrs. William R. Linn.

And the school itself in its educational work is a joint undertaking. Many have engaged in shaping it. The clear and experienced intelligence of my wife is wrought everywhere into its texture. The wisdom, tact, and devotion of its instructors have brought about a transformation of its original amorphous plans into articulate form and substance with life and movement of their own. Whatever the issue of the ideas presented in this book, the satisfaction coming from the co-operation of the diverse thoughts and deeds of many persons in undertaking to enlarge the life of the child will abide.

AUTHOR’S NOTE TO SECOND EDITION

The present edition includes some slight verbal revisions of the three lectures constituting the first portion of the book. The latter portion is included for the first time, containing material borrowed, with some changes, from the author’s contributions to the _Elementary School Record_, long out of print.

The writer may perhaps be permitted a word to express his satisfaction that the educational point of view presented in this book is not so novel as it was fifteen years ago; and his desire to believe that the educational experiment of which the book is an outgrowth has not been without influence in the change.

NEW YORK CITY July, 1915

THE SCHOOL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS

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John Dewey's The School and Society originated as three lectures delivered in April 1899 to parents and supporters of the University Elementary School. The publisher's note explains that Dewey revised them from a stenographic report, and the text retains 'the unstudied character as well as the power of the spoken word.' This oral origin shapes the prose: Dewey uses colloquial phrases, direct addresses to listeners, and a rhythm that builds arguments through repeated contrasts—between theory and practice, laboratory and factory, the experimental school and the wider system. The book's eight chapters extend beyond the lectures, but the core three chapters (I–III) carry the momentum of live argument.

Spoken-Word Cadence and Colloquial Directness

The lectures preserve the syntax of extemporaneous speech. Dewey often opens with phrases like 'I heard once that' or 'Speaking more especially with reference to,' which mimic conversational turn-taking. He uses rhetorical questions—'Now, the purpose of performing an experiment is that other people need not experiment'—to guide listeners through reasoning. The prose is free of academic hedging; Dewey states claims bluntly: 'We want an even more intimate union here.' This directness, however, does not sacrifice precision. He carefully distinguishes between a 'working model' and a thing 'to be copied,' a distinction he repeats to ensure his audience grasps the experimental nature of the school. The rhythm of short declarative sentences followed by longer explanatory clauses creates a cadence that feels like guided discovery.

The Laboratory as a Recurring Structural Metaphor

Dewey returns repeatedly to the image of the laboratory to frame the school's purpose. In the excerpt, he insists that 'laboratories lie back of all the great business enterprises of today' and that the school must function as a 'laboratory in which the student of education sees theories and ideas demonstrated, tested, criticized, enforced.' This metaphor does more than justify experimentation; it inverts the expected relationship between theory and practice. The laboratory is not a place for pure research but for demonstration—'to afford a demonstration of the feasibility of the principle.' Dewey extends the metaphor by contrasting the laboratory with the commercial enterprise: the lab does not aim to replicate business conditions but to discover truths that later become 'commercial.' The school, he argues, should be a 'working model of a unified education,' not a template for literal imitation.

Shifts in Pace Between Lecture and Published Chapter

The transition from spoken lecture to printed chapter introduces a noticeable change in pace. The first three chapters, based on the lectures, maintain a brisk, argumentative flow with frequent illustrative anecdotes and direct appeals to the audience. In contrast, later chapters such as 'The Psychology of Elementary Education' adopt a more measured, analytical tone. Dewey acknowledges this shift: 'Naturally, most of the public is interested in what goes on day by day in a school… Nevertheless a school conducted by a department of a university must have another aspect.' The later sections move from concrete examples—the school's daily operations—to abstract principles like the psychology of occupations and the development of attention. Readers should note that the book's unity is thematic rather than tonal; the early lectures argue for a principle, while the later essays explore its implications.

Because the book preserves the texture of live argument, readers benefit from attending to Dewey's rhetorical cues—his pauses, repetitions, and shifts in register. The early chapters reward reading aloud; the later ones require slower reflection. The experimental school itself remains a shadow presence throughout: Dewey describes its methods only indirectly, as evidence for his claims. This makes the book less a report on a specific institution and more a sustained argument for a philosophy of education grounded in social experience. Treat the lectures as you would a transcript of a skilled speaker thinking in public.

That Dewey book stayed with me because he spoke about learning like it happens between people, not in rows of desks. It reminded me of reading about Colet and Erasmus, those Oxford reformers who also believed ideas live in conversation, not memorization. There’s a quiet warmth in The Oxford Reformers: John Colet, Erasmus, and Thomas More — Background and Themes that felt like the same slow realization.