Dewey vs. Modern Society: What makes education effective?
Diane Waldron
Eastern Connecticut State University
In light of Dewey’s statement that education should not exist merely to prepare students for the future, but have meaning in the present (Dewey, 1893) conflicts with the attitudes of Connecticut, American, European, and world attitudes toward education. Dewey’s progressive education ideals encompassed the view that public schools should educate the whole child. As I understand him, Dewey does believe that preparation for meaningful employment is an important purpose of public education; however, believing that future employment is the sole purpose of public education limits the potential for meaningful learning.
What do modern populations identify as factors that make education “effective”? Overall, the message within the responses of people from this state, this country, Europe, and other areas in the world boiled down to this: education exists to supply the future workforce with the skills and attitudes required by employers. By this definition, effective education provides employers with graduates who satisfy the needs of employers, while also keeping abreast of trends in the workplace and changing to satisfy the expectations of employers.
According to the Connecticut Business and Industry Association survey from 2008, the most important skills needed by employers were technical and mechanical skills; followed by communication, teamwork, and leadership; then work ethic and punctuality (employability skills); with advanced skills in computing, science, research and development or engineering being the least sought after skills (Availability of Skilled Workers in Connecticut, 2008, p. 5). On the PDK Gallup Poll of 2014, Americans identified soft skills, such as dependability, persistence and teamwork as being necessary employability skills. The 2010 Annual Report by the European Commission reveals that Europeans identified teamwork as the number one employability skill, followed by specific job skills, communication, computer skills, and adaptability (p. 12) . Modern employers expect graduates to be skilled with more than discrete skills for a particular job. By modern standards, effective schools should help students to develop a strong work ethic, positive work habits and interpersonal skills.
Are present employers satisfied with the skills of graduates? According to the 2008 CBIA survey, nearly half of Connecticut’s employers felt. that the public education system in our state failed to “sufficiently prepare students for the current job market” (p. 4). The 2011 CBIA survey, however, found most Connecticut manufacturing employers expressing the opinion that the state’s graduates were meeting the needs of employers (p. 2) although a third felt that students lacked employability skills (p. 3), and a fifth believed that numeracy and literacy skills needed strengthening (p. 3). The 2010 Annual Report by the European Commission found that employers were satisfied with the skills of graduates of higher education (p. 24) and that higher education students graduated equipped with work skills (p. 24). The prevailing attitude in Connecticut and in Europe is that education is effectively preparing a workforce to meet the needs of employers. Employers are satisfied with the skills of graduates from public education.
As I stated at the beginning of this essay, John Dewey would most likely not agree that public education as preparation for future employment is in the best interests of the students. On the 2008 CBIA survey more than half of the participants agreed that educational reforms would lead to graduates who are better prepared to go to work (p. 3) and almost all, 98%, believed that education in math and science needed to be strengthened (p. 12), and 95% wanted to see “more accountability and higher standards” (p. 11). According to the analysis of this survey, improving public education in Connecticut will create a pool of skilled workers for the state’s employers (p. 11). The CBIA uses Connecticut’s public education system to fulfill their needs, and the needs of other employers.
An interesting difference arose regarding early childhood education. Americans, it seems, are more reluctant than the rest of the world to release their toddlers into the care of public education. According to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development in 2014, only 38% of American three-year-olds were enrolled in early childhood education while 70% of three-year-old children were enrolled in early childhood education in other countries (p. 7). Apparently, Americans do not believe as readily in the benefits of early childhood education on children’s educational careers. Another difference lay in higher education; the 2014 OECD report found that Americans are less likely to reach a higher level of education than that achieved by their parents (p. 2). Only 30% of Americans achieved this goal; in all but three countries-Austria, Russian Federation, Korea –more than 30% of the population reached a higher level of education than their parents (p. 2). On the other hand, responses to the 2014 PDK/Gallup Poll, indicated that a majority of Americans (90%) recognize the importance of college. The 2013 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections chart demonstrated why: the higher the degree of education reached, the higher the wages one could expect to earn.
Americans, apparently, believe that education begins more appropriately after age three, and while they may believe in the importance of college to improve one’s earning potential, they do not necessarily feel compelled to try to become more educated than their parents. In other countries, there is more of a drive to move upward socially and economically using higher education, and striving to become more educated than one’s parents. Modern societies seem to share the belief that the primary purpose of education is to prepare students for future employment, a view that John Dewey would find disheartening. Is it possible, I wonder, to develop in students both the skills necessary to make a living and a love of learning?
References
2011 Survey of Connecticut’s Manufacturing Workforce. (2011). Retrieved February, 2016, from
Connecticut Business & Industry Association website:
http://www5.cbia.com/newsroom/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Workforce_2011.pdf
Availability of Skilled Workers in Connecticut. (2008). Retrieved February, 2016, from
Connecticut Business & Industry Association website:
http://www.hartfordinfo.org/issues/wsd/employment/SkilledWorkers_08.pdf
Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators. (2014). Retrieved February, 2016, from
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) website:
http://www.oecd.org/edu/United States-EAG2014-Country-Note.pdf
Employers’ perception of graduate employability. (2010, November). Retrieved February,
2016, from European Commission website:
http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_304_en.pdf
Employment Projections. (2013, December 19). Retrieved February, 2016, from
http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm
Dewey, John (1893). “Self-realization as the moral ideal,” Philosophical Review 2, (1893): 652-664.
The PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. (2014).
Retrieved February, 2016, from PDK website: http://pdkpoll.pdkintl.org/october/#6