John Dewey’s Idea of Education: Its Relevance to Contemporary Nigerian Educational Value

This paper is a critical evaluation of John Dewey’s concept of education visa viz its relevance to contemporary Nigerian educational value. To undertake this task, the paper seeks a more holistic approach to offer a comprehensive overview of the importance of John Dewey’s idea of education. Specifically, the paper examines the importance of John Dewey’s Philosophy of Education in the present-day Nigerian educational system. Within this framework, the researchers were posed with three major considerations. Firstly, the paper unravels the idea of education in light of John Dewey’s model. Secondly, the paper executes a succinct evaluation of the present Nigerian educational values. Thirdly, is the application of Dewey’s theory of education to serve as a panacea for the Nigerian educational system. The paper notes that Dewey introduced his pedagogical approach into the educational space that altered the traditional teaching and educational value prevalent in his time. Dewey insists that active teaching-interactive learning, step-by-step reading as well as writing for critical thinking are germane to modern-day education. Comparatively, today, these approaches as recommended by Dewey, appear to have not been holistically adopted within the framework of today’s Nigerian educational system. Nigeria has only partially implanted Dewey’s new theory. Hence, a call for a holistic adoption of his theory in Nigeria. This paper finally recommends Dewey’s theory of education for Nigerian present educational woe. Dewey, no gainsaying, ushers in plausible revolutionary changes into the present-day educational philosophy.