Dewey & Cronon Blog

There were actually two quotes that I wrote down when reading John Dewey’s article. “There is more than a verbal tie between the words common, community, and communication. Men live in a community in virtue of the things which they have in common; and communication is the way in which they come to possess things in common (Dewey 4).” This quote got my attention because I never really thought about those words having that connection. And after reading this quote, I found that I agreed with it. The second quote that I really enjoyed from Dewey’s article was: “All communication is like art. So, any social arrangement is educative to those who participate in it (Dewey 6).” After reading this statement, I thought a little bit harder about the statements meaning. I really enjoyed this because the statement makes claim that anyone is capable of being educated, so long as they participate and try to be active in the social networks around them. I think that there is a lot of truth to that statement. For example, the same can be said about the other material we have looked at thus far. (The Wisconsin Idea, Cronon’s article, Young’s article, etc.) The commonality that all of the articles had was participation and communication. If Young did not communicate with his pronunciation teacher Mrs. “S”, he may never have ended up doing what he does now in his career. If everyone here at UW-Madison did not participate in the many ways they do, the Wisconsin Idea would cease to exist, and likewise, Cronon’s article claims that one has to listen, read and understand, talk, write clearly and persuasively, think critically and be able to solve puzzles, etc. in order to be an educated person. Without actively listening to others, talking and interacting with others in a community setting, it is deemed impossible for someone to be an educated person. Do you guys agree?

Question: If you take communication out of the picture, what would an educated person look like then? Is communication the essential ingredient for becoming an educated person? What might Dewey, Cronon, Young, and other authors say?