Achieving Widespread Democratic Education in the United States: Dewey's Ideas Reconsidered

Excellent, democratic education that furthers each person's potential, success and happiness for her own and others' well-being is not yet widespread in the U.S. today. Dewey's The Public and Its Problems has much to say about the possibilities and challenges of achieving this goal. This paper examines Dewey's ideas about how a public for widespread, excellent education can form through the development of sound public opinion based on widely disseminated, accurate and relevant information and through the restructuring of associations among people. The crucial role of the educator in the formation of a public emerges through this examination.