Proceedings of the 2020 3rd International Seminar on Education Research and Social Science (ISERSS 2020)

John Dewey vs. Confucius: Similarities and Differences in Their Educational Thoughts

Authors
Kexin Xu, Xiaona Wang
Corresponding Author
Kexin Xu
Available Online 20 January 2021.
DOI
10.2991/assehr.k.210120.009How to use a DOI?
Keywords
The educational thoughts of Dewey, The educational thoughts of Confucius, Similarities, Dissimilarities
Abstract

This study aims to compare the similarities and differences in the educational thoughts of Dewey and Confucius. To start with, this study examines their shared opinions on education’s function to improve the state of society, education’s essence of transferring experience, and practice’s central role in teaching process. Then this study explores their diverged educational thoughts regarding the goal of education, the mode of education, and the role of teachers. First, Confucius proposes that education has an ultimate goal of cultivating people with virtues while Dewey believes that educational goal should be continually adjusted and upgraded based on students’ expectations. Besides, Confucius promotes a text-centred learning approach and regards the wisdom of the sage as the root of knowledge while Dewey emphasizes a student-centred education mode and believes that knowledge is sourced through the process of inquiry and independent thinking. Furthermore, Dewey regards teachers as facilitators whereas Confucius considers them, except for facilitators, also as role models. It is hoped that this study can provide insights into the development and integration of Chinese and Western education based on the in-depth analysis of the aforementioned sections.

Copyright
© 2021, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2020 3rd International Seminar on Education Research and Social Science (ISERSS 2020)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
20 January 2021
ISBN
10.2991/assehr.k.210120.009
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/assehr.k.210120.009How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2021, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

TY  - CONF
AU  - Kexin Xu
AU  - Xiaona Wang
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/01/20
TI  - John Dewey vs. Confucius: Similarities and Differences in Their Educational Thoughts
BT  - Proceedings of the 2020 3rd International Seminar on Education Research and Social Science (ISERSS 2020)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 42
EP  - 45
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.210120.009
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.210120.009
ID  - Xu2021
ER  -