Dewean Notion of Education As a Participation in Social Consciousness

1.0 GENERAL INTRODU¬CTION
Philosophy has always enjoyed the premium of being the think tank of any epoch. This is precisely because philosophers devote their intellectual energy to solution of all that puzzle man in his existential world. Even though they may not furnish exhaustive answers to some of these problems, philosophers highlight them so that man may become aware of the problems confronting him in the world.
One of the areas where philosophy is useful to existence is in the education of human persons. Philosophy of education attempts to take care of such contentious issues in education as: What should be the aim or purpose of education? Should the primary aim of education be to instill knowledge, or to instill the ability to acquire knowledge, or nether? Opinions also vary on whether education should be an acquisition of facts or acquisition of values. Consequently, many have seen education as a means to an end, a preparation for life rather than life itself.
This work will struggle to establish that the goal of education is to unify and harmonize means and end, facts and values, theory and practice, knowledge and intelligence so that genuine and authentic education becomes a participation in the social consciousness of a race, life rather than a preparation for life. This intellectual work is an erudite attempt to reconcile these contradictions, and make education a holistic human formation. The work is in four chapters:
Chapter one states the problem to be solved, its historic background and the philosophical relevance of the work. Education, experience and Theory of knowledge are important tools in the understanding of Dewey’s thought on education. Effort is made at defining what they are to Dewey.
Chapter two covers a critical and lucid exposition of relevant and cognate views on education as experienced in the histories of philosophy.
In chapter three is seen a clear presentation and discussion of Dewean notion of education as a participation is social consciousness. This chapter contends that reconstruction of the ideas of school, education, subject matter/curriculum and aim/nature of education will go a long way in revealing that educational goal is not to be sought outside education itself, that education is life and not a preparation for it. All these investigations are done within pragmatic and progressivistic principles and provisions.
Chapter four summarizes the work and critically appraises Dewean notion of education as an exercise in social consciousness. This chapter also compares and contrasts Dewey and his predecessors with a view to seeing how timely and relevant his educational doctrines are to our contemporary world, especially to Nigeria, and Africa. [Download the PDF file by following the Link]