# Education as Social Reproduction or Transformation in Human Nature and Conduct

> Theme guide for Human Nature and Conduct by John Dewey.

Dewey examines how the plasticity of youth is exploited by adults to impose existing customs, but argues true education should foster inquiry, experimentation, and the ability to reshape social conditions.

## Where it surfaces

- [I: Impulses and Change of Habit](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/i-impulses-and-change-of-habit): Dewey discusses how infants' impulses are educated by adults with formed habits, and how this process can either reproduce or transform existing customs.
- [Plasticity of Impulse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/ii-plasticity-of-impulse): Critiques education that instills 'moral' habits without understanding, contrasting it with growth-oriented learning.
- [Impulse and Conflict of Habits](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/iv-impulse-and-conflict-of-habits): Dewey presents education of the young as the chief means of continuous, graded, economical improvement and social rectification, while criticizing existing schooling as a tool of nationalistic and economic regimes.
- [No Separate Instincts](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/vi-no-separate-instincts): The plasticity of impulse in youth is implied; the chapter discusses how social conditions shape the expression of impulses, which has implications for education.
- [Morality Is Social](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/chapters/iv-morality-is-social): Dewey emphasizes that moral education requires understanding social forces and providing objective analysis of conduct, rather than relying on blame, punishment, or appeals to a ready-made conscience. He links defective moral standards to defective social education.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/themes/education_and_docility
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/human_nature_and_conduct_se/themes