Schools of Education and John Dewey

In this chapter, I argue that the status of Dewey scholarship in schools of education is likely to decline. To advance this hypothesis, I begin with an account of the factors behind Dewey’s ascent in North American schools of education. I then proceed to review some existing critiques of Dewey, and I explain how they do not capture the key problem with Dewey’s philosophy, which is its strong commitment to modernity. Once this core argument is laid out, I explain how this commitment to modernity, along with the progressive movement’s current difficulties, indicates some difficult times ahead for Dewey scholarship.