School & Society: Being Three Lectures

2010 Reprint of 1900 Edition. The School and Society may be Dewey's most popular publication. It describes the rationale behind the University Elementary School that made his pedagogic approach famous. The School and Society is similar to Mead's Mind Self and Society. The text is based on stenographic notes of lectures, prepared for publication by colleagues, in the absence of the author. Dewey's approach to education is the basis of Mead's later work on educational reform, particularly as that work relates to vocational education and approaches to curriculum development in general. Although Dewey is known best for his publications concerning education, he also wrote about many other topics, including experience, nature, art, logic, inquiry, democracy, and ethics. In his advocacy of democracy, Dewey considered two fundamental elements-schools and civil society-as being major topics needing attention and reconstruction to encourage experimental intelligence and plurality. Dewey asserted that complete democracy was to be obtained not just by extending voting rights but also by ensuring that there exists a fully formed public opinion, accomplished by effective communication among citizens, experts, and politicians, with the latter being accountable for the policies they adopt.