Great Educator

Dewey’s argument that social influences are the “great educator” and that schools are only a secondary agency has implications in all neighborhoods and families.  The neighborhoods and families students are raised in from birth to kindergarten will greatly influence a student’s experiences before they enter public school.  The experiences can be excellent to marginal in different neighborhoods as well as different families.  For example, a student in an affluent community might not have a cohesive family because of the values a family has.  They may be affluent, but the student is not being raised in a caring, supportive environment.  Another example, could be a child being raised in a low socioeconomic community, but the child has the caring and support for the student to be successful.   The teachers of the two students that I have used as examples can make the difference for the child and for the family. 

In each example, the teacher could intervene to offer support to the child from the affluent home, but is not being shown the care and support he/she needs to be successful academically as well as socially at school.  The teacher could also intervene when working with students in low socioeconomic communities to give families resources of local support agencies that can help the family manage through the difficult economic times.  We know from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid that if a child’s basic needs of physiological, safety, and belonging are not met, it will be hard for a student to master basic skills at school.

Dewey was right, schools are secondary while social influences are primary.  However, knowing that as an educator will help teachers to meet the needs of all students.