Thinking for Themselves Dewey

7/21/2019 Thinking for Themselves Dewey

1/8

Thinking for Themselves This Is

Not News

Youd think that conservative opponents of JohnDewey would have their hands full dealing withwhat the man wrote over the course of his lifetime.But that hasnt stopped some bizarre misquotesfrom working their way into the conversation.

few weeks ago my !echnorati watchlist pulled upa blog that contained the following statement"alleged to be by Dewey#

You cant make $ocialists out of individualists.%hildren who know how to think for themselvesspoil the harmony of the collective society which is

coming" where everyone is interdependent.&ow" this sounds so completely unlike anything've ever read Dewey say that ' wondered wherethe quote came from. (y curiosity was furtherencouraged when ' did a web search and foundthe quote on hundreds of web pages ) none ofwhich could cite a particular te*t" lecture" oroccasion on which Dewey said this. !he closest 'could find to an attribution was the year +,-- )which is the year that Dewey gave the lecturesthat formed the basis for The School and Society"one of his key books on education. $o ' turned tothe ast (asters database" which contains a

searchable full/te*t database of both TheCollected Works of John Deweyand The


2/8

Collected Correspondence of John Dewey. ' put invarious phrases from the longer quote and askedfor results.

' came up empty.

' did some more searching in the archives of theelectronic Dewey mailing list" and learned that afew years back" the users of that list tried to trackdown the original source of the quote as well.!hey had no more luck at pinning down theattribution than ' did. $o while ' cant completelyrule out the idea that this quote was made in aconte*t not included in the Collected Worksorthe Collected Correspondence" my best guess isthat this is a caricature of a paraphrase thatsomehow came to be seen as a direct quote. !he

only other alternative ' can think of is someonedeliberately falsifying a citation" and 'd like to bemore charitable than that.

s long as ' was in the database" ' decided to seewhat Dewey does say about the notion of childrenand people thinking for themselves. ' got thefollowing hits for the e*act phrase 0think forthemselves1 from Deweys published writings.2!here were two additional hits" one from anaccount of an interview with Dewey" and one froman unpublished manuscript. ' wanted to focus onthe published instances for this post.3

4rom The Middle Works Vol. 8 (191!" page 5-,#


3/8

'f we train our children to take orders" to do thingssimply because they are told to" and fail to givethem confidence to act and think for themselves"

we are putting an almost insurmountable obstaclein the way of overcoming the present defects ofour system and of establishing the truth ofdemocratic ideals. 2Schools of To"orrow" %hapter++3

'n the passage from which this quote is taken"

Dewey does mention the idea of collective action.But he is e*plicitly talking about democraticgovernment. 6eres the larger passage#

!he conventional type of education which trainschildren to docility and obedience" to the carefulperformance of imposed tasks because they are

imposed" regardless of where they lead" is suitedto an autocratic society. !hese are the traitsneeded in a state where there is one head to planand care for the lives and institutions of thepeople. But in a democracy they interfere with thesuccessful conduct of society and government.7ur famous" brief definition of a democracy" as

0government of the people" for the people and bythe people"1 gives perhaps the best clue to what isinvolved in a democratic society. 8esponsibility forthe conduct of society and government rests onevery member of society. !herefore" every onemust receive a training that will enable him tomeet this responsibility" giving him 9ust ideas of the

condition and needs of the people collectively" and


4/8

developing those qualities which will insure hisdoing a fair share of the work of government. 'f wetrain our children to take orders" to do things

simply because they are told to" and fail to givethem confidence to act and think for themselves"we are putting an almost insurmountable obstaclein the way of overcoming the present defects ofour system and of establishing the truth ofdemocratic ideals. 7ur $tate is founded onfreedom" but when we train the $tate of to/

morrow" we allow it 9ust as little freedom aspossible. %hildren in school must be allowedfreedom so that they will know what its use meanswhen they become the controlling body" and theymust be allowed to develop active qualities ofinitiative" independence" and resourcefulness"before the abuses and failures of democracy willdisappear.

'f democratic government is not a means by whichindividuals come together so that their collective9udgement can determine the states course ofaction" then what is it: 2't is true that Dewey wantsto e*pand the notion of a democratic society" and

thats an issue thats up for debate ) maybedemocracy shouldnt be a way of life" the wayDewey advocates. But thats a wholly differentargument.3

4rom The Middle Works Vol. 11 (1918#1919!"pages +;


5/8

!his is the psychological factor which cooperateswith the physical centralization of the agencies ofnews gathering and distribution to develop the

new paternalistic solicitude for the masses whocannot yet be trusted to think for themselves.20!he &ew aternalism.13

&ow this quote" with its talk of masses who cantbe trusted" is pretty close to the way someopponents characterize Dewey. But Dewey is" in

fact" critici$in%this paternalistic attitude" arguingthat its a bad idea to try and shape the publicsthinking by withholding or distorting information. 'nlarger conte*t" ' think this is clear#

=et us make democracy safe for the world by acareful editing and e*purgation of the facts upon

which it bases the opinions which in the enddecide social action. !he men most active inurging that state paternalism be surrendered ine*change for private initiative in transportation"banking" investments and manufacturing 2barringof course benevolence to the poor working manthrough a protective tariff3 will be most vigorous in

solicitude to safeguard against private initiative inbelief.

4rom The Middle Works Vol. 1 (19&'#19&!"page +>?#

@e need" on the whole" more elbow/room foractivity of the outer sort" more freedom andspontaneity of action in the schoolroom and on the


6/8

playground than we usually get" not because thatis the act of self/e*pression or end in itself" butbecause" with a certain degree of elbow/room we

can get opportunity for the students to think forthemselves" to work out their own plans" toformulate their own problems" to carry their ideasinto e*ecution" and to test their plans and ideas todetermine how they work out. 20'ndividuality inAducation.13

&ow this is definitely an area where Deweyscritics have unloaded both barrels ) this idea thatgiving the student more freedom contributes to aloss of discipline and a failure of the student toactually learn. ' disagree with that criticism" butthats a topic for another time. @hats important tonote here is that Dewey argues that his emphasis

on freedom for the student is 9ustified because ithelps the students learn to think for themselves.!his is" in fact" a very individualistic approach"whether one approves of it or not.

4rom The )ater Works Vol. (19&9#19'*!" page5+#

!he %ollege" more than most educationalinstitutions of whatever sort" has been trulyeducational in living up to its effort to leadstudents to think)which means" of course" to thinkfor themselves. 20=abor olitics and =aborAducation.13


7/8

Dewey is speaking here of Brookwood =abor%ollege" an institution devoted to training laborleaders" which wound up feuding with the

administrative leadership of the merican4ederation of =abor. Brookwood was accused ofbeing too radical and possibly sympathetic tocommunism" and so the 4= wanted its memberunions to withdraw all support. Dewey supportedthe %ollege. @hich" again" will do nothing todissuade those who think Dewey was a

communist himself. But look again at the wayDewey praises the %ollege ) he says it taught itsadult students how to think" which means that ittaught them how to think for themselves. $o ifteaching students to think for themselves issomehow supporting of communism" that wouldmake the alleged +,-- quote a logicalcontradiction.

4rom The )ater Works Vol. + (19'1#19'&!" pages->/-,

Democracy will be a farce unless individuals aretrained to think for themselves" to 9udge

independently" to be critical" to be able to detectsubtle propaganda and the motives which inspireit. 20merican Aducation ast and 4uture.13

' think that one speaks for itself. 'n fact" ' may putit on a bumper sticker.

About Dave Thomer
http://www.notnews.org/author/dave-thomer/http://www.notnews.org/author/dave-thomer/


8/8

Born and raised in hiladelphia. $tudiedphilosophy at 4ordham Cniversity in the Bron*"where ' made many great friends and met my

wonderful wife. @e moved back to hiladelphia"where ' studied philosophy some more andbecame a teacher. 7nline and off" 'm looking forways that we can be better citizens and buildstronger communities.

January 5" ;

Documents

Thinking for Themselves Dewey