Dewey: Aims in Education

The Nature of an Aim
Dewey contends that, when considering the nature of an aim in a democratic society, it is vital that the aims or ends be emergent from within the process in question. He notes that in a democratic society, in which social relationships are equitably balanced, we should be concerned when aims that belong within the process are instead formulated outside of it. Dewey discusses the distinction between results and ends; indeed, he notes that a result is when there is nothing in the outcome that completes what preceded it, while ends involve a process of transformation and realization, in which each step of the process paves the way for the next. Dewey notes that “an aim implies an orderly and ordered activity, one in which the order consists in the progressive completing of a process.” (p.102) Dewey contends that aims provide direction in education and a progressive, purposeful process that leads to an end. He further attests that acting with an aim is an action of intelligence and consciousness or wide-awakedness.
The Criteria of Good Aims
Dewey argues that there are three criteria necessary for the establishment of good aims. Firstly, he notes that good aims must be based on existing conditions in education. They must take into consideration the present realities of the situation, including resources and challenges. Secondly, good aims are flexible, not rigid, and are responsive to the process as it unfolds. He writes that “a good aim surveys the present state of experience of pupils, and forming a tentative plan of treatment, keeps the plan constantly in view and yet modifies it as conditions develop.” (p. 105) Thirdly, Dewey asserts that a good aim must emerge from the learning activity itself, to be both the ends and means. Alternately, Dewey warns that separating ends from means reduces a learning activity to drudgery.
Applications in Education
Dewey notes that any aim is a valuable one, if it assists in observation, choice and planning in implementing an activity. He also makes the distinction that only people, such as students, parents, or teachers, can have aims, but that an abstract idea like education cannot itself have aims. Dewey states some of the characteristics found in all good educational aims: 1) An educational aim must be emergent from the intrinsic activities and needs of the individual to be educated. 2) An aim must lend itself to a method that works with the activities of those participating in the learning 3) As educators, we need to make sure that aims are set within a specific context and take multiple connections into account. Dewey notes that this demands a wider and more flexible outlook. He writes that “one cannot climb a number of different mountains simultaneously, but the view had when different mountains are ascended supplement one another; they do not set up incompatible, competing worlds.” (p.110)