세계화 시대에 존 듀이 다시 읽기: 세계화, 민주주의, 그리고 교육

Abstract

The author's initial point of departure is Dewey's concept of democracy as the truly human way of living. From this deep, life-embedding meaning of democracy this study argues that the crisis of democracy in the era of globalization should be understood from its broader life-related perspective rather than from its narrow and direct political consequence like the shaking of participatory democracy. The reason is that the current trend of global integration based on the radical free-market theory called neoliberalism results in destroying the life of the majority of people while serving the needs and interest of the few political and corporate elites. Moreover, contemporary economic globalization weakens the belief in human potential in the sense that it regards humans as instrumental market agents. Under the neoliberal world order, then, human nature that is creative and social could be degraded and the market way would be a great threat to democracy as a fuller life. Being framed by this critical perspective this study invites attention to Dewey's social-democratic philosophy and its educational implications in order to provide a possible alternative to the neoliberal market paradigm regarding human life and education. According to Dewey, there is an organic connection between the individual and society. This means that the individual needs to develop his social self in and through education. For this purpose, Dewey wanted the school to be a miniature community in which each child by intercourse with others becomes a social being. By the same token, he encouraged the social spirit or motive in education which is the product of people living together and doing certain things in common, and sharing in each other's activities and experience. Moreover, Dewey's belief in the best interests of the people at large helps us see the democratic cause of schooling: That is, in a democratic society the first priority of education should be the preservation and nurturing of the social majority, and particularly the victims of a given system. Dewey was then committed to reconstruct democratic school life on the ground that what schooling is about is not the individualistic value assigned to self-sufficiency and competitive achievement, but the collective norm based on mutual tolerance, cooperation, and collaborative relationships. In such a social climate, Dewey challenged the idea of education as related to individual achievement and sought to reorganize the school as a cooperative community in which each can take his own part and make his own contribution. It is from this vision of the good life held by associated individuals that we can see the soul of Dewey's democratic philosophy and consider his model of school democracy as a counter paradigm of the neoliberalist model of education, because apart from the market statement that education is a form of economic investment for the talented few Dewey conceived education as a human service whose goal is to care the life ground of the great number of average people. Dewey's social ideal, democracy then teaches us that everyone has a legitimate claim for his life-experience, and that at the centre of schooling there must be the question of how to share a life together rather than the question of how to increase monetary value in the market.