The Student's Realization In The Dewey Educational Philosophy

Philosophical views aid in the way people understand ideas regarding life and their environment, and how things are done in this respect. This helps with making sense of how things work and why they exist. They all begin from a person’s young age, shaping how their lives turn out as well as how their lives affect others. Life changes every day, and this is usually as a result of the increasing complexity of the world. To keep up with these changes, it is important that people are trained and prepared to cope with them and make good of situations they find themselves in. To make this possible, educators play a major role in the case of preparation of students through the adoption of educational philosophy in a bid to deal with postmodernism. Playing this role in educational philosophy in light of postmodernism helps students, from a young age, to know how best to think correctly and use their ideas to shape their surroundings in a way that helps them to thrive (Larson & Miller, 2011). 

The Dewey educational philosophy plays a significant role in this case, especially in light of the idea of postmodernism. Postmodernism is a movement or thought process that challenges the environment in which people live, including matters to do with ambiguity tolerance, reality constructions, conventions of life, diversity emphasis, together with innovation and change celebration. It is a case of removing the restrictions that have always existed within life, thus embracing risk for those who prefer not to follow the conventional ways of going through life. 

The focus of this educational philosophy in the eyes of John Dewey is identifying the full potential of students through identifying their full potential and aiding with growth through encouraging creativity, dialogue and freedom. Together, the Dewey educational philosophy and postmodernism are a case of great potential for the realization and provision of solutions to various needs and wants in the environments of both the students and their educators. For this to be made possible, it is important that certain skills are brought onboard for the sake of a better understanding of how the skills marry with the issues within the environment. In this day and age especially, innovation is key to thriving within the economy, which means the skills one subscribes to are key to staying afloat. The most important set of skills is learning and innovation. This means that students, either within schools or students of life, ought to identify the line of learning that helps them with gaining innovative skills that remain relevant through and through, aided by educators. Learning and innovation is the basis for which the other skills are set and adopted. The other sets of skills are life and career skills, as well as media, information and technology skills, all of which are important. For the Dewey educational philosophy to work in postmodernism, one ought to be able to acquire these skills. With innovation at the forefront of this refined way of thinking, then the needs that people have are bound to be met in due time, if especially the citizens are encouraged to think in a way that helps solve various needs. This change is made possible by the integration of research, education and innovation. This means that citizens get to use knowledge acquired in a responsible and strategic manner, given that it is informed by the research conducted and the innovative skills that back it. On this note, therefore, the educators play a significant role in teaching this way of thinking and applying it in their tutoring process. It is not about cramming knowledge and acquiring certain grades anymore; it is now about pushing for the acquisition of certain skills that are connected to issues in real life scenarios, as well as making the learning institutions significant (Stehlik, 2018). The Dewey educational philosophy is significant in postmodernism, especially since each student’s unique needs are catered to, while eliminating the view of mass teaching as just another project. Not only is the present catered for; the future is catered for too. This means that the creativity and innovative skills acquired go further than the current needs and are able to provide solutions to a number of future needs. These skills are distinctive from the features applied during the historical periods. 

The embrace of a new philosophical view within postmodernism does away with mass production and standardization while adopting innovative ideas and a personalized approach to the generation of economic wealth. Social mobility and economic growth in the new age boast of a different reality that is at the core of the growth and development of any economy (Tan, Choo, Kang & Liem, 2017). To make it possible for students to be able to enjoy learning within the “process of knowledge creation (Tan, 2008)” as opposed to viewing it as a tool, the educational philosophy ought to be reconstructed, thus pointing them to the Dewey educational philosophy. The students have freedom to discover where their innovativeness lies, and how this plays a significant role in their decisions on issues in their environments. This educational philosophy provides an answer to what has been long sought after regarding new students of life dealing with issues they come across. The core idea of the philosophy is growth and experience. A diverse worldview greatly aids in an open mind that is ready to deal with any issues presented along the way. It becomes easier to take consideration of all alternative solutions to a problem, and then identifying the one with the greatest benefit and the least number of challenges. The view of life further pushed by this philosophy is that education is viewed as a process as opposed to a step in life that ought to be quickly brushed off. Not only is innovativeness developed through active participation by students, but social realization is also brought to life. In the process, critical inquiry becomes a part of the student’s life, one that encourages and helps surface their curiosity. They will want to know why things happen as they do, the challenges experienced, and how best to put the issues to rest by providing effective and efficient solutions. The active participation in class then translates into active participation within the society, which results in real-world problems being solved with recommendations being further provided. The result of the Dewey educational philosophy becomes students and students of life who have freedom to go beyond the societal boundaries and come up with innovative ideas that would provide solutions to the various issues that continually arise. It also results in the active participation of both teachers and students, who then appreciate each other’s presence as opposed to having distorted views of each other. Teachers are not be feared while students to be belittled; far from it. Teachers get to acknowledge the various skills various students have and getting the students to see how they can put them to good use, thus aiding in fruitful interactions. Greater collaborations in and out of school result, and so do better ways and ideas of resolving conflicts. The better way of life acquired in school can be easily applied once one is done with school, especially when it comes to the varying life issues one encounters. It does not stop within the school boundaries. 

In conclusion, therefore, the Dewey educational philosophy encourages potential realization among students through innovation and learning, made possible by creativity, freedom and dialogue gained through a different view of learning and life. People get to view life through different lenses.