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John Dewey Would Hate Your Digital Citizenship Curriculum

Updated: May 27, 2020

There. I said it. Someone had to.


Everyone is talking about #digcit right now. Maybe the term is finally catching on. Maybe it’s just the buzzword phrase school districts are using as they roll out 1:1 initiatives. Maybe these lessons have staying power; maybe they don’t. But I do know one thing….John Dewey would hate your #digcit curriculum.


“Who is this John Dewey?” you ask. If you’ve ever taken a course in educational psychology, his name should ring a bell. Dewey was an educational reformist known for his advocacy of both progressive education and democracy.


Over 100 years ago, John Dewey (1909) argued for better citizenship education in schools. He believed that the school’s definition of a citizen as an informed voter and follower of the law was too narrow and asserted that a good citizen was many things – a voter and a rule follower, but also a community member who must function as a worker, a leader, a parent or mentor who can use the sum of their experiences and skills to “contribute to the values of life [and] add to the decencies and graces of civilization wherever he is” (p. 10).


To fill these roles as an adult, Dewey contended that a child must learn how to lead and when to follow; how to think, ask questions, and explore for answers; how to persevere; and how to communicate, collaborate, and contribute to help move society forward. Dewey so eloquently pointed out that citizenship and moral training in education were nothing without context.

There was no one program of study or course a child could take that would turn him into a good citizen. It was simply not enough to lecture children about how to behave in society; instead, Dewey felt that the school should become the society through which children learned citizenship skills.

He subsequently called for an overhaul of the educational experience in order to help students develop into good citizens (Dewey 1909, 1916).  


Schools have made tremendous strides since Dewey’s sentiments emerged in the early twentieth century. Research into, and implementation of, social and emotional learning, classroom communities, and democratic schools all stem from the visions Dewey had of the school as a society. But just as educators seemed to be on the verge of getting it right, a new type of citizenship emerged.


While Dewey focused on students as citizens of their classrooms, families, and communities, he could have never predicted the digital movement that would turn society into an interconnected global community accessible at the touch of a button.


If Dewey were here today, he would caution us to step back and look at the messages being delivered through digital citizenship curriculum. These messages, by and large, do not encourage students to engage in global conversation or consider the possibilities of collaboration unhindered by boundaries. Our lessons do not recognize the accomplishments of citizens coming together for a good cause, or ask students to consider the power of their voice in tough digital conversations about gender, race, religion or issues of politics and social injustices.


In fact, many of our digital citizenship lessons do not even ask kids to think beyond themselves: What should they do to maintain privacy? What should they do if someone is mean to them? How should they positively brand themselves to look good to future employers? What should they avoid posting to keep from being arrested or suspended?

Dewey would remind us that being a citizen means more than just following rules. A citizen is part of a  community, and being a citizen of a community means interacting with each other, supporting one another, and working together to make our corner of the world a better place. Isn’t it time for our digital citizenship lessons to start reflecting some of his ideals?

References

Dewey, J. (1909). Moral principles in education. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Dewey, J. (1916). Education and democracy. New York.

Bust portrait of John Dewey, facing slightly left

By Underwood & Underwood – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress‘s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3a51565.

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