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As they learn more about social and emotional learning (SEL) with its data-mining, parents are in an uproar. They're demanding an opt-out and deletion of all stored data. Some believe that if we can stop the leftward lurch of America, we can "turn our schools around" and use SEL as it was "initially intended." But was the initial purpose of SEL really to teach appropriate social behavior and support "mental wellness" and "management of emotions," or is there a sinister underside? SEL's Occult ConnectionsThe term "social and emotional learning" was coined in 1994 at a meeting hosted by the Fetzer...

Both left and right use a kind of meme or cartoon of the idea of John Dewey. But when you drill down into who he actually was and what he did and did not do, it gets much stranger and messier than a simple stereotype. John Dewey was primarily a philosopher, proponent of a personal school he termed "instrumentalism", heir to mainstream American philosopher William James, whose school was "pragmatism". Dewey's philosophy had much more effect on common people than most philosophies, in that he did (initially) demote commonsense instruction in reading and math, and he did try, and succeed,...

Donald Trump promised to drain the swamp in Washington. This task is especially urgent in that large, malodorous part of the swamp known as Education. The Education Establishment makes everything murky and unproductive by an endless spew of jargon, incoherent theories, goofy methods, phony research, and new names for failed ideas. Finally, no two Americans can talk constructively about anything in education. It's as if they are talking across vast linguistic and cultural barriers, not over coffee at Starbucks. Education is now the fog-shrouded domain of dumbing down. Pervasive murkiness is a big part of the reason why so much...

Why so many young people following Bernie?

John Dewey is often blamed (by me and many others) for being the cause of the long, relentless decline in American public education. In fairness, he is only the famous face of a bigger story. In the early years of the 20th century, as the Victorian era moved toward the wasteland of World War I, anxiety and ferment rippled across America and Europe. Unions were rising; revolution was preached in every capital; assassinations were common. There was genuine fear that civilization would fly apart. Edward A. Ross, a sociologist, published an influential book in 1901: Social Control: a survey of...

If you study John Dewey on the surface, much of his history has been brushed away. But if you really go digging, you will find out about two of Dewey's early radical colleagues, those being Corydon and Franklin Ford. (Moreso Franklin than Corydon) In his book "The Child of Democracy: Being the Adventures of the Embryo State", Corydon La Ford recounts some of the relationship between the Fords and John Dewey. What's written on page 174 is just odd: Professor Dewey, of Philosophy, sawed with me on the schools and welcomed the proposition of a new economy in the State...

Joseph Stalin had been General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party for six years in 1928, when John Dewey, "the father of modern education," toured Russia with a group of educators. Later that year, The New Republic published Dewey's Impressions of Soviet Russia and the revolutionary world. This polemic stands as a remarkable testament to progressivism's disdain for mankind, reason, and truth. It is also Dewey's most honest and concise primer on the principles of his progressive education method. Anyone prepared to defend the idea of government-controlled schooling after reading this work is perhaps beyond reach of rational argument. Dewey's...

Why has the American society changed so drastically in the past few decades? How did the feminist movement get started? How did Obama get elected? Why are there so many single parent families? Where is God?

In "Liberalism and Social Action" (Excerpts only), John Dewey explains the following: The idealistic philosophy taught that men are held together by the relations that proceed from and that manifest an ultimate cosmic mind. It followed that the basis of society and the state is shared intelligence and purpose, not force nor yet self-interest. The state is a moral organism, of which government is one organ. Only by participating in the common purpose as it works for the common good can individual human beings realize their true individualities and become truly free. The state is but one organ among many...

Robert Rothman collection of John Dewey, 1935-1959 | ManuscriptsBiographical Note John Dewey was born on October 20, 1859 in Burlington, Vermont and graduated in 1879 from The University of Vermont. Although he taught and remained primarily at Columbia University, he also taught or lectured at the University of Chicago, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of California, Imperial University in Tokyo, National University in Peking, and the University of Mexico. He retired from active service, and was appointed as Professor Emeritus of Philosophy in Residence at Columbia University in 1930. He also worked for the Turkish government and as...

It is generally agreed that John Dewey (1859-1952) is the Father of American Education and the Greatest American Educator Ever. The problem with the labels is that John Dewey, albeit a genius, was not an educator in the sense that most people use this word. He was not interested in teaching as most people understand that term, as for example in the statement "I teach French." Dewey was not primarily concerned with teaching new information. He was concerned with inculcating new attitudes. John Dewey was a social engineer -- one might even say a community organizer. He believed that socialism...

Obama-care apparently includes a “contraceptive mandate” that will require all insurance companies in the US to cover sterilization, abortifacients, and contraception. Under this law, all Catholic hospitals will be forced to offer “contraception” to their employees. Perhaps this is what Nancy Pelosi meant, when speaking on Obama-care, when she said “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.” There has not been a discernible clamor on the part of Catholic hospital employees for their employers to offer free “contraception.” This is an example of a manufactured issue, one that is motivated by a...

An Internet forum asked this question: “Suppose you had $1 billion to spend, how would you improve education?” More than 30 people left suggestions, all of them smart, articulate, and sophisticated. But something nagged at me. I sensed there was an unstated premise that all these respondents shared. A false premise. Everyone seemed to assume that the Education Establishment is honestly trying to do a good job. The premise goes like this: These elite educators mean well. They have the right answers. But for some odd reason, they can’t quite get their act together. All that’s needed, apparently, is for...

... I was floored to see just how bad it was when I was researching Dupes, and, specifically, digging into the Soviet Comintern Archives on Communist Party USA, where TNR frequents the files.... here are just a few examples from those opening decades, smack in the middle of Lenin’s and Stalin’s unholy rampage: From the outset, TNR peddled gibberish on Bolshevism.... it's no surprise that numerous TNR editors, regulars, and contributors did pilgrimage to the Soviet Motherland, where they were paraded from Potemkin village to Potemkin village by master manipulators. From the likes of Lincoln Steffens to John Dewey, they...

It turns out that progressive educator John Dewey’s books were not only influential in the United States. “Dewey’s first six books were rapidly translated into Russian,” historian Paul Kengor said in a conference sponsored by the group America’s Survival. “They told John Dewey his books were perfect for what they were trying to do in the USSR.” Kengor spoke at the America’s Survival conference at the National Press Club on October 21, 2010.

At the turn of the twentieth century, an early "progressive" Vermonter named John Dewey kick-started a makeover of America's education system. At the conclusion of the second of his seminal works, The School and Society and The Child and the Curriculum, Dewey offered these bits of wisdom. "But save as the teacher knows, knows wisely and thoroughly, the race-expression which is embodied in that thing we call the Curriculum, the teacher knows neither what the present power, capacity, or attitude is, nor yet how it is to be asserted, exercised, and realized." Even in this final sentence, as in the...

NR Special: The Progressives The “progressive” label is back in vogue; politicians of the Left routinely use it to describe themselves, hoping to avoid the radical connotations associated with being “liberal” in the post-Reagan era. The irony in this is manifold, especially because the aim of the movement to which the name refers, the late-19th- and early-20th-century progressive movement, was anything but moderate. If the progressive label seems less radical today, it is only because progressivism is less well known than its liberal progeny. It was initially an academic phenomenon far removed from American politics. Particularly in the post–Civil...

Need a little bit of help from knowledgable Freepers. I am looking for books that explain and trace the origins of todays public education system. I tried searching through Amazon.com but I'm not finding the books I am looking for. Can anyone give me a good list? Thank you in advance.

HUMANISM UNMASKED AS DEFINED BY JOHN DEWEY, THE FATHER OF MODERN EDUCATION Humanism is as old as the garden of Eden, but few know what it is. The idea of Humanism replacing Godism can be seen in the garden of Eden when Satan taught Eve that she would know longer need God, she could be as her own god and do what she pleased after she got enough knowledge of her own. Men have written on the subject since Plato and Aristotle, but still most people only think it means 'kind' or 'humane'. A better definition is required if...

He who aims at changing society -- for good or for evil -- knows that he should gain control over three things: education, the news media, and entertainment. These are the keys that shape a society. My concern is education. Great men have always emphasized its crucial importance. To form young minds is to build the future of a society. There is no nobler task, and education begins at home. The mother is the primary educator of her child, for she will spend more time with her babies than the father can, even though his role is also crucial. To...