ABSTRACT
One of the first educators to recognize the importance of preparing young people for life in a free society was John Dewey. He argued nearly a century ago that every child should learn to adapt to unpredictable change and, while adjusting, to learn to control and shape that change.
The ethical responsibility of the school on the social side must be interpreted in the broadest and freest spirit; it is equivalent to that training of the child which will give him such possession of himself that he may take charge of himself; may not only adapt himself to the changes that are going on, but have power to shape and direct them. (Dewey, p. 11, italics added)
