Comparison of the Educational Ideas and Practices of John Dewey and Mao Zedong in China: Is School Society or Society School?

This study compares the educational ideas and implementations of Dewey and Mao from 1919 to 1981 in the context of Chinese modern history. The differences between them, on whether school is society or society is school, whether class character should be embodied in moral education, and whether intellectuals are leaders or mere followers in social transformation, highlight the most fundamental debates in education, still unsettled today. Their similarities in emphasizing the connection between school and society, the role of experience in learning, and of morality in schooling illuminate the essential issues in modern education. The interweaving of their differences and similarities offers us intriguing and provocative insights for education today and tomorrow.