Dewey advocates the internal purpose of education and opposes the external purpose of education. His "educational teleology" has the duality of theory and practice.
Dewey's "aimless education" is futile in opposing the empty and distant educational goals set by teachers for young children. His exposition on the defects and possible harm of the external purpose of education and the characteristics of good educational purpose enriches the theory of educational purpose and provides a brand-new perspective and reference for us to understand and formulate educational purpose. His "Educational Teleology" reminds us that it is not enough to have an abstract goal, but a more specific goal is necessary, because the abstract goal is not always stipulated in the curriculum goal, but sometimes embodied in the process principle.
Dewey only talks about the process and insists that education has no purpose, which is not only a theoretical mistake, but also a theoretical cover-up. In fact, Dewey's "aimless education" is a correction to adults' decision on the purpose of education without children, and it is not a fundamental abandonment of the educational purpose. In Dewey's view, education has a purpose. Dewey said, "Children are the starting point of education and society is the destination of education. The educational process between them is to socialize children. " This is obviously in contradiction with what he himself said: "Education has no purpose". Dewey's original intention of "education without purpose" is actually that "under the cloak of denying the social and political purpose of education, teachers and parents can realize the purpose that is essentially restricted by social conditions and class will through the so-called specific educational purpose that meets the needs of educators and can guide students' activities." "
Engels pointed out: "People who carry out activities in the field of social history are conscious, thoughtful or passionate people who are forced to seek a certain purpose. Nothing will happen without conscious intention and unexpected purpose. "
In educational activities, it is impossible to have no purpose. The purpose of education is the intermediary between the internal and external relations of education and the bridge between educational theory and practice.
First of all, the purpose of education plays a normative role in the results of educational activities. The purpose of education can conceptually "change the blind development process of human nature, or get rid of the development process that appears under the intervention of other activities that do not meet the educational purpose, and make it enter the predetermined development direction."
Secondly, the purpose of education is the foundation of educational activities and the starting point of all educational work. Any reform within education has nothing to do with the purpose of education.
Third, the purpose of education is the end-result of educational activities, which has the standard function of testing the teaching effect. When people evaluate the educational effect, only according to the pre-set standards can the educational goals be implemented and not become castles in the air.