Abstract

This is not a simple question to answer, of course. There seems little doubt that Dewey’s China sojourn impacted his development as a philosopher and educator, but that is not the question at issue for us. Our question can be stated: Is China’s educational environment and pedagogical practice different today because John Dewey took China seriously? His taking China seriously is manifested in multiple ways that go beyond his time in-country. Dewey had significant numbers of Chinese students, and it is clear that he took them as seriously as he took their country. It may be, of course, that Dewey’s relatively short-lived presence on the mainland had little lasting impact, that it was returning students of Dewey past...