John Dewey’s Experience and Education is an important
book, but first-time readers of Dewey’s philosophy can find it challenging and
not meaningfully related to the contemporary landscape of education. Jeff
Frank’s Teaching
in the Now aims to reanimate Dewey’s text—for first-time readers and anyone
who teaches the text or is interested in appreciating Dewey’s continuing
significance—by focusing on Dewey’s thinking on preparation. Frank, through
close readings of Dewey, asks readers to wonder: How much of what we justify as
preparation in education is actually necessary? That is, every time we catch
ourselves telling a student—you need to learn this in order to do something
else—we need to stop and reflect. We need to reflect, because when we always
justify the present moment of a student’s education in terms of what will
happen in the future, we may lose out on the ability to engage students’
attention and interest now, when it matters. Dewey asks his readers to trust
that the best way to prepare students for an engaging and productive future is
to create the most engaging and productive present experience for students. We learn to live fully in the future, only by practicing living fully
in the present. Although it can feel scary to stop thinking of the work of
education in terms of preparation, when educators reclaim the present for students, new opportunities—for
teachers, students, schools, democracy, and education—emerge. Teaching
in the Now explores these opportunities in impassioned and engaging prose that makes Experience and Education come alive for
readers new to Dewey or who have taught and read him for many years.
