JOHN DEWEY ’ S RESULTS : SECULARIZED PUBLIC SCHOOLS
To be fair , there are several measures of public education that suggest John Dewey ’ s experiments in public education were successful , such as enrollment rates , length of education , and the average income of public high school graduates . In 1993 , the US Department of Education published a 120 Years of American Education : A Statistical Portrait . 13 The stats are dated now , but it ’ s a snapshot of how far public education progressed since before Dewey ’ s time . At the beginning of the twentieth century , enrollment rates for children ages 5 – 19 rose to 51 % and then to 91 % in 1991 — almost doubling enrollment in just under a century . Other reported statistics were similarly positive .
But the better measure of education is not found merely in enrollment and graduation rates . It doesn ’ t matter if 100 % of children enroll and graduate if their learning is defective .
Other metrics suggest public education has been a failure . After John Dewey helped implement a more secular approach to public education , many benchmarks for public morality began to crumble . Some took longer than others , but the effects were the same . Consider the following trends in American society after secularism took hold :
• Belief in God fell from 98 % in 1944 to 87 % in 2014 ( Time . com ). 14
• Church membership fell from 73 % in 1937 to 47 % in 2020 ( Gallup . com ). 15
• Out of wedlock births are up from 28 % in 1990 to 40 % in 2018 ( ChildTrends . org ). 16
• Belief that abortion was acceptable rose from 37 % in 2003 to 47 % in 2021 ( Gallup . com ). 17
• Support for same-sex “ marriage ” rose from 27 % in 1996 to 70 % in 2021 ( Gallup . com ). 18
It is true that the public school system is not completely responsible for the morals of its citizens . Sure , we cannot forget individual and parental responsibilities for our country ’ s current moral collapse . But when an educational system assumes the obligation to educate potentially the entirety of the citizenry by removing the basis of humanity and morality , it is not unreasonable to assert that it bears a significant portion of the moral responsibility — certainly more than any other public system . Bear in mind that 87 % of American families enroll their children in public schools as of 2013 , according to the Council for American Private Education , 19 and most are still unaware of how insidious these humanistic , naturalistic philosophies are .
THE AFTERMATH OF DEWEY ’ S SKEPTICAL AND ATHEIST EDUCATION
Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov once said , “ Modern people believe this : man descended from apes . Therefore , let us love one another .” 20 As Solovyov sharply implies , evolutionary philosophy does not logically generate any sort of Christian love . And what kind of “ morals ” might develop when citizens are educated in a system that teaches God — and ultimately our existence — is irrelevant ? It results only in the chaotic moral landscape we see in our country today .
John Dewey and the secular icons of yesteryear may be dead now , but our culture continues to suffer from the effects of their work . By Dewey ’ s own standard of judging education by whether it works , he is a failure . His philosophy may have helped generate more graduates in public education , but it also spawned a populace bereft of a moral compass and the ability to think independent of the culture . ■
Endnotes 1 . “ John Dewey .” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ( November 1 , 2018 ), https :// plato . stanford . edu / entries / dewey . 2 . Dave Breese , 7 Men Who Rule the World from the Grave ( Chicago : Moody Publishers , 1992 ). 3 . Breese , 7 Men , via Google Books . 4 . John Dewey and Lewis E . Hahn , The Middle Works of John Dewey , 1899-1924 : Journal Articles , Essays , and Miscellany Published in the 1916-1917 Period ( Netherlands : Southern Illinois University Press , 2008 ), 245 , via Google Books . 5 . “ John Dewey ,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . 6 . Zachary Garris , “ John Dewey , Secular Humanism , and Publish Education ,” Teach Diligently ( blog ), March 23 , 2018 , https :// teachdiligently . com / articles / john-dewey-secularhumanism-public-education . 7 . John Dewey , “ The Quest for Certainty : A Study of the Relation of Knowledge and Action ” Gifford Lectures 1929 ( New York : Minton , Balch & Company , 1929 ), https :// www . gifford lectures . org / lectures / quest-certainty . 8 . “ Humanist Manifesto I ,” American Humanist Association , https :// americanhumanist . org / what-is-humanism / manifesto1 . 9 . John Dewey , A Common Faith ( New Haven , CT : Yale University Press , 1991 ). 10 . The Collected Works of John Dewey , 1882-1953 , ed . Jo Ann Boydston ( Carbondale , IL : Southern Illinois University Press , 1969 ). 11 . Mark J . Koscak , “ Undoing John Dewey ’ s Impact on American Public Education ,” The RenewaNation Review 9 , no . 2 : https :// www . renewanation . org / post / undoing-johndewey-s-impact-on-american-public-education . 12 . Dale McGowan , “ John Dewey Redefines God for Humanists and Atheists ,” Dummies , https :// www . dummies . com / religion / atheism / john-dewey-redefines-god-for-humanistsand-atheists . 13 . 120 Years of American Education : A Statistical Portrait , National Center for Education Statistics , https :// nces . ed . gov / pubs93 / 93442 . pdf .
14 . David Johnson , “ See How Americans ’ Belief in God Has Changed over 70 Years ,” TIME , April 7 , 2016 , https :// time . com / 4283975 / god-belief-religion-americans . 15 . Jeffrey M . Jones , “ U . S . Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time ,” Gallup , March 29 , 2021 , https :// news . gallup . com / poll / 341963 / church-membership-fallsbelow-majority-first-time . aspx . 16 . Elizabeth Wildsmith , Jennifer Manlove , and Elizabeth Cook , “ Dramatic Increase in the Proportion of Births Outside of Marriage in the United States from 1990 to 2016 ,” Child Trends , August 8 , 2018 , https :// www . childtrends . org / publications / dramatic-increase-inpercentage-of-births-outside-marriage-among-whites-hispanics-and-women-withhigher-education-levels . 17 . Megan Brenan , “ Record-High 47 % in U . S . Think Abortion Is Morally Acceptable ,” Gallup , June 9 , 2021 , https :// news . gallup . com / poll / 350756 / record-high-think-abortionmorally-acceptable . aspx . 18 . Justin McCarthy , “ Record-High 70 % in U . S . Support Same-Sex Marriage ,” Gallup , June 8 , 2021 , https :// news . gallup . com / poll / 350486 / record-high-support-same-sex-marriage . aspx . 19 . “ Facts and Studies ,” Council for American Private Education : Voice of America ’ s Private Schools , http :// www . capenet . org / facts . html . 20 . Vladimir Solovyov , as quoted in Timothy Keller , Making Sense of God : An Invitation to the Skeptical ( New York : Viking , 2016 ), 42 .
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14 THE RENEWANATION REVIEW