11.25.2008

In Order To What

John Dewey, in Experience and Education said that what we gain in education that is fundamentally important for the future is enduring attitudes i.e. likes and dislikes.He says that our learning is so compartmentalized and cut off from experience and the whole of things that we end up forgetting it because we've not learned how it connects to anything else. So we are without references that point us to re-using what we once learned. The thing that is generally lasting is attitude formation. He says, "The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning." He refutes the idea that education is for preparation for the future. I wish someone would have told that to the guy who sighed and did the crazy gesture when I told him my post-graduation plans (or lack thereof). Dewey says that the best thing we can do is suck as much knowledge and experience and whatever-it-offers out of each present moment. That act in itself will prepare us to continue doing the same good work in the future.