Deweyan Democratic Values: A Framework for Music Education

For John Dewey, the fate of democracy rested on the shoulders of education. As the preeminent

educational reformer of the 20th century, he advocated for experimentation, creativity and the

development of students as ‘reflexive’ thinkers; he prized the pooling of collective and cooperative

experience, and saw it as imperative for progressively generating the knowledge and wisdom needed to

transcend dogmas and “guide collective action.” Dewey’s progressive philosophies on education and art

are still relevant today and remain deeply embedded within educational discourse. However, the field of

music education has been hesitant to integrate Dewey’s ideas of democratic education into the classroom

while maintaining largely a traditionalist approach. A rapidly changing music education landscape calls

for the revisiting of Dewey’s ground breaking ideas. This paper (1) briefly examines the current state of

American formal music education, then (2) explores Deweyan democratic values as a framework for

music education, and finally (3) envisions practical applications for the field.