Montessori, Dewey, and Capitalism: Educational Theory for a Free Market in Education.

• Author: Shaw, Jane S.
• Position: Book review

* Montessori, Dewey, and Capitalism: Educational Theory for a Free Market in Education

By Jerry Kirkpatrick

Claremont, Calif.: TLJ Books, 2008.

Pp. 212. $18.95 paper.

As Thomas Jefferson famously said, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." But overcoming ignorance in order to live in a free society is a largely neglected topic, even though it is more important than ever, as the evidence grows daily that young Americans are not learning how to think. For example, literature professor Thomas F. Bertonneau recently analyzed the student exams for his world literature class and noted, "The inability of many students to cognize even such basic elements as story--first 'A' happens, then 'B' happens, and so forth--is alarming" (What, Me Read? [Raleigh, N.C.: Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, January 16, 2008], at http://www.popecenter.org).

The modern failure of U.S. public schools to impart even such basics as reading and arithmetic has made educational instruction a battleground in the national "culture wars." Yet most of the conflict pertains to establishing the rudiments, not to fostering intelligent, actively thinking persons who can evaluate and solve problems.

So it is refreshing to see that a professor of business, Jerry Kirkpatrick, has written a book about educational theory as a whole and about the philosophical concepts on which it is based. Montessori, Dewey, and Capitalism is an attempt--and a generally successful one--to take the best tenets of progressive education and apply them to modern reality. By "reality," this author means the way people actually live--and should live--in a modern, capitalist society. Although the title does not identify the third major figure in the triumvirate, it is Ayn Rand.

"Most significantly, what adults in a capitalist society need to possess are the knowledge, value, and skill of how to make independent judgments," Kirkpatrick writes (p. 192). Thus, he aims to articulate a theory of education that allows children to become free-thinking adults, not limited by adult repression, bureaucratic stagnation, or disengagement from thought ("mental passivity"). This goal clearly reflects his libertarian orientation--he wants Americans to want to be free--but those with other views of education may share the approach as well.

Developing and explaining this theory involve a great deal of philosophical background, most of...