I find 'pragmatism' an interesting approach to philosophy (slogan - "no proposition is immune to revision") and I think that inquiry is the basic form of education. His view of education was that it was 'the reconstruction of experience' and this seems to be an fruitful topic for discussion. The excerpt below contains some challenging ideas given the 'check or obstacle to successful human action' currently experienced by Muslims desiring change:
"John Dewey was a leading proponent of the American school of thought known as "pragmatism," a view that rejected the dualistic epistemology and metaphysics of modern philosophy in favor of a naturalistic approach that viewed knowledge as arising from an active adaptation of the human organism to its environment. On this view, inquiry should not be understood as consisting of a mind passively observing the world and drawing from this ideas that if true correspond to reality, but rather as a process which initiates with a check or obstacle to successful human action, proceeds to active manipulation of the environment to test hypotheses, and issues in a re-adaptation of organism to environment that allows once again for human action to proceed. With this view as his starting point, Dewey developed a broad body of work encompassing virtually all of the main areas of philosophical concern in his day. He also wrote extensively on social issues in such popular publications as the New Republic, thereby gaining a reputation as a leading social commentator of his time."
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