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M: More than two thousand years separated two of the world’s great educational philosophers, Confucius and Dewey. Yet, despite their, uh, separation in time and space, both of these thinkers held some interesting—and amazingly parallel—ideas about teaching and learning. Confucius lived during the sixth century B.C., during China’s Classical Age, and is generally held to be China’s greatest and most influential philosopher. Confucius was, and still is, considered both reactionary and revolutionary. He’s reactionary because his perspective looked to the past, to the wisdom of the ancients. Confucius felt that his role as a teacher was to carry on the ancient tradition, rather than to create something new. He said, "I transmit, hut do not create; I have faith in and love for ancient studies." During his lifetime, Confucius studied and commented on several texts of the ancient tradition, including the books known as the Six Classics. Yes, Tracy?
W: If Confucius just studied the ancient books, why was he considered a philosopher? I mean, he didn’t create anything new. He just talked about other people’s work.
M: The way he looked to the past, his focus on the classical texts—that’s the reactionary side of Confucianism.
W: OK, but if he didn’t create anything new, how does this make him a revolutionary?
M: Confucius was a revolutionary because he believed that there should be no distinction of social class in education. He believed that education should be, urn, not just for the privileged class, but for any boy or girl who was able and willing to learn. Confucius stressed education for practical use because he believed the goal of education is to improve all of humanity. This aspect of Confucianism shares a core belief with the Western philosophy of pragmatism. According to pragmatism, the value of knowledge is a function of its practical outcome, that is, its usefulness to both the individual and the society. In the early twentieth century, pragmatism was highly influential in several fields—like government, business, but especially education. One of its leading thinkers was the American philosopher John Dewey. Like Confucius, Dewey was a scholar and educator whose ideas have had a tremendous impact, both in his time and.beyond. Like Confucius, Dewey has a place among our greatest thinkers. As was the case with Confucius, some of Dewey’s ideas were considered revolutionary. Dewey’s ideas about individuality and social progress were radical in the early twentieth century. Dewey believed that the cultivation of the individual would benefit society as a whole, and therefore, the education of individual students is good for social progress. This is similar to the Confucian idea that if a man is true to his inner self, he will achieve true greatness, and that the greatness of individuals is necessary for social order. Despite the centuries that separated them, Confucius and Dewey held some similar ideas about knowledge, teaching, and learning. Confucius believed that the processes of teaching and learning stimulate each other. Teaching is half of learning, and the ideal teacher is one who goes over what he’s already learned and gains some new understanding from the experience. Compare this to Dewey’s idea that education is a continuously constructive process, with experience and knowledge building on each other.