The correct understanding of Dewey's education is growth is that Dewey's "education is growth" is not to let students develop at will according to their own interests and needs, but to make school education conform to the laws of students' physical and mental development and respect children's interests and internal needs. "Education is growth" is the result of the interaction between internal and external conditions of students' activities, and it is also a response to Dewey's democratic ideal. It is considered that children's all-round growth is a tool and means to realize democracy, which has rich social significance.

Dewey's Educational Essence

Dewey's view on the essence of education is completely different from the traditional educational thought, which emphasizes the close relationship between education and individual life and social life and holds that life and experience are the soul of education. No life, no experience, no growth, no education.

Dewey is an important representative of child-centrism in the first half of the 20th century. He discussed the essence of education from different angles of psychology, pedagogy and pragmatic philosophy. Three important points are put forward: education is growth, education is life, and education is the continuous transformation of experience.