Saturday, January 31, 2009

Experiential Theorist: John Dewey

John Dewey is and continues to be an influence in my consulting, facilitating, and experiential training programs.
I encourage you to read the article clipped below.
Deweys' pedagogic creed;

Are you aware of John Dewey?
In what way does his philosophy affect your work?
clipped from www.infed.org

I believe that these interests are to be observed as showing the state of
development which the child has reached.

I believe that they prophesy the stage upon which he is about to enter.

I believe that only through the continual and sympathetic observation of
childhood's interests can the adult enter into the child's life and see what it
is ready for, and upon what material it could work most readily and
fruitfully.

I believe that these interests are neither to be humored nor repressed. To
repress interest is to substitute the adult for the child, and so to weaken
intellectual curiosity and alertness, to suppress initiative, and to deaden
interest. To humor the interests is to substitute the transient for the
permanent. The interest is always the sign of some power below; the important
thing is to discover this power. To humor the interest is to fail to penetrate
below the surface and its sure result is to substitute caprice and whim for
genuine interest.

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