The influence of John Dewey's undeniably pervasive ideas on the
course of American education during the last half-century has
been celebrated in some quarters and decried in others. But
Dewey's writings themselves have not often been analyzed in a
sustained way. In John Dewey and the Decline of American
Education , Hank Edmondson takes up that task. He begins with an
account of the startling authority with which Dewey's
fundamental principles have beenand continue to bereceived
within the U.S. educational establishment. Edmondson then shows
how revolutionary these principles are in light of the classical
and Christian traditions. Finally, he persuasively demonstrates
that Dewey has had an insidious effect on American democracy
through the baneful impact his core ideas have had in our
nation's classrooms. Few people are pleased with the performance
of our public schools. Eschewing polemic in favor of
understanding, Edmondson's study of the "patron saint" of those
schools sheds much-needed light on both the ide