School Superintendent Michael Hynes is wrong in his quoting of John Dewey as well as in his misguided recommendations for changes to the school curriculum. I don’t know if the school board knew of Hynes’s ideas before they hired him, but I’m sure many parents and some board members are questioning his hiring.
Hynes, according to the Feb. 1 edition of the Port Washington Times, said: “The great philosopher, John Dewey, stated, ‘If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.‘“.
This is a nice quote , but Dewey never said this! Dewey wrote several papers on education, including the main one, “Democracy and Education: an introduction to the philosophy of education,“ which was written 120 years ago , and spoke of the inequality of education of rich and poor. Happily, there is no difference in educational needs or choices between rich and poor in Port Washington. But 120 years ago there was a difference.
I’m a psychiatrist of 40 years, now retired, and had two children go through the Port school system. They had no complaints about standardized testing or the amount of homework in middle school or high school of two to three hours or more per night. They knew it was necessary to learn the subjects, and they both got into top ten colleges. The teachers know how much homework to give students so they learn efficiently. There shouldn’t be any limited rule about how much homework a teacher can give.
I read most of John Dewey’s essays and books, and I’ve read criticisms of Dewey’s work. I, and these critics, have never found Dewey’s supposed quote anywhere, even though some people assume he said it.
Hynes also wants to eliminate standardized testing, even though he knows we could lose millions of dollars from the federal government if students “opt out” of these tests. The only parents who are against the standardized tests are the ones who are afraid their children will do poorly on the tests. In every school district, the students in the top third in the ranking of grades do not “opt out” of the tests. We must keep the standardized testing. It is the best assessment of a child’s progress. If a child does poorly in a subject, he or she should get extra help in that subject.
Hynes implies that Port Washington doesn’t already have courses in “music, art, crafts, home economics,“ which Dewey advocated 120 years ago. But now the high school also has other electives, such as computer science, programming and internet, which Mr Dewey didn’t know of 120 years ago.
Dewey’s philosophy was based on education as it was taught 120 years ago. It is not so relevant today.
Dr. Marshall Hubsher
Port Washington
