Educational Theories: Comparison of the Views of Dewey and Stone
John Dewey (1 - 5) is, of course, widely recognized as one of the key theorists in American education. J. E. Stone (1), a less well known educator and theorist, is a contemporary writer and analyst who has proposed an alternative to Dewey's construction of the foundation of educational practice and pedagogy known as developmentalism; Stone (2) traces the roots of developmentalism to earlier work by, among others, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Dewey and Jean Piaget. In this brief essay, the ideas of Dewey and Stone vis-a-vis the importance of developmentalism as a basis for educational practice will be compared.
The argument will be advanced that Stone (2), builds significantly upon Dewey's (1994) theoretical foundation to create a theory of teaching and learning that recognizes, as Stone (4) put it,
the view of age-related social, emotional and cognitive change that regards the optimal progression to be a fragile result of native tendencies emerging in a world congenial to their presumed wholesome nature.
Thus, like Dewey (1) before him, Stone (2) sees the task of educators and schools as calling forward the process of development, which is conceived of and recognized as a complex process of maturation that is naturally driven. However, Stone's (4) formulation of theory departs in some significant and incompatible ways from that of Dewey (4), specifically with respect to the tasks that a school or teacher should undertake to advance student learning. Stone's (4) position resonates with contemporary educational issues and reform mandates that must be addressed in an educational system far more diverse and complex than envisioned by Dewey (4).
Dewey (1) stated that "the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child's powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself." Further, Dewey (2) took the position that the educatio...