The Witching Hour: A Conversation with John Dewey
Published April 25, 2007
By Lauren McGonagle-Akin
For a long while now it has been a foremost aspiration of mine to find, in the solitary witching hours of the night, one of our old distinguished buildings unlocked and poised for midnight exploration.
On every occasion that I have milled around campus tugging on door handles, I have failed to gain entry. On one such evening, after finding Ira Allen Chapel predictably locked, I peered in the window to behold a miraculous sight.
There in the pews sat none other than the bronze effigies of the Marquis de Lafayette and Ira Allen, both fully animated. Our very own, incredibly rendered catamount lay nestled beside old Ira nuzzling his leg: an intellectual gathering of campus staples.
They all turned their focus to a man on stage that was none other than John Dewey. For those of you unacquainted with the man who has managed to get himself a lounge, honors program, and eternal resting place here on campus, here’s a small helping of Dewey. What I heard that night could be very well deemed subversive in the eyes of the university. There’s a reason the ideas of the founder of pragmatism have never really gained momentum around campus. John Dewey has been laid to rest amongst the bushes, both literally and figuratively.
Who the fuck is John Dewey? Psychologist, philosopher, educational reformer, and founder of the philosophical school of Pragmatism, has made quite a name for himself here at UVM, but only in the sense that his name can be seen engraved in stone, shining on plaques, and heading honors college transcripts. You’re unlikely to find him in the bookstore. Those interested in paying their respects can find his distinguished headstone, inconspicuously placed around the side of Ira Allen. Engraved upon it is your typical “pass the immortal torch of knowledge” sentiment. The fact is, old Dewey would probably be passing the torch around campus in a dramatically different manner.
While relating the philosophy of John Dewey would be both arduous and extensive, here are a few quotes to chew on, seeing as you’re unlikely to get a taste of the old man in the classroom.
If you care to get an idea of what he looked like in the flesh, enter the hallowed and stained glass halls of the John Dewey lounge. He’s the guy on the wall in the overstuffed armchair, with the endearing mustache and kindly grin.
For those who think college is “fucking pointless”:
Plato defined a slave as one who accepts from another the purposes which control his conduct. This condition obtains even where there is no slavery in the legal sense. It is found wherever men are engaged in activity which is socially serviceable [or not] but whose service they do not understand and have no personal interest in.
For those trying to rationalize what they do in their free time:
Men’s fundamental attitudes toward the world are fixed by the scope and qualities of the activities in which they partake.
For anyone who’s ever gotten an A, or been accepted into the John Dewey Honors Program:
Imposing an alleged uniform general method upon everybody breeds mediocrity in all but the very exceptional. And measuring originality by deviation from the mass breeds eccentricity in them.
For those paying $ 36, 542 a year to become successful men of science:
…those who do become successful men of science are those who by their own power manage to avoid the pitfalls of a traditional scholastic introduction into it.
Quotes taken from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (1916) as articulated by the ghostly spirit of John Dewey from within Ira Allen Chapel, February 19th 2007.
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