While reading this week’s assignment, the discussion about how people may react to different experiences (Chapter 2) caught my attention. It is hard for us to relate our experiences to one another when they may be completely disconnected from one another, as Dewey states. As a teacher, we may begin our careers in a very wealthy school district that has state-of-the-art technology and facilities, and then be transferred to a poorer school district that struggles with the funding for the students to have the books they may need. Although each of these experiences involves the teaching of students, could we really relate what we have done at one school to the other with the students having such different backgrounds and resources? Each school district would be different just as each class we teach will be comprised of different students with different backgrounds, creating a new experience for us. Although we may be able to relate past experiences to new ones, they will not always be just alike.
Another idea that struck me was with growth through situations and interaction with one another (p. 42). The analogy to the infant was useful to me in that a baby crying does not mean just one thing. Through interactions with the infant, the mother can figure out what the child may need at that time. Likewise, as teachers, through each interaction and situation with students, we can deduce what each student’s different needs may be. Also Dewey mentions that the environment plays a role in the situation and interaction at that time. As I mentioned earlier with different experiences, these environments play a role in how we, as teachers, will react to different situations. One question that I had out of all of this is how can we not let our past experiences determine how we react to new ones?
2 comments:
I can relate to this as I attended two different middle schools and 3 different high schools. These changes in my teenage years were not simply from an educational aspect. In essence, I moved from different cultures and later on different social classes when I was taken in by my American legal guardians. This change from lower immigrant class to a high middle class family created a total new circle of experiences for me that I am still trying to connect to my past today.
Excellent post.
Two points:
1. Dewey gets at the experiences relating to other experiences bit through the concept of continuity. When aspects of one experience manifest themselves in others, that's part of continuity. No experience will ever be just alike, but they can be continuous.
2. The dilemma of letting past experiences dictate new ones is one Dewey certainly is aware of. For him, that's a big danger -- the "I've done this before" attitude. That sort of blase attitude leads to inanition and the absence of growth.
So, how can we avoid it?
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