Masalah yang menyebabkan terbatasnya kesempatan kerja pada masa sebelum dan sesudah Perang Saudara (1861-1865) di Amerika sebagai akibat pola pendidikan yang masih bersifat tradisional sehingga terbatas pula kesempatan untuk mendapatkan penghasilan yang lebih baik. Padahal pada masa itu bangsa dan negara Amerika sedang mengalami proses perubahan dari masyarakat agraris menuju masyarakat industri, di mana dibutuhkan tenaga-tenaga yang ahli dan professional. Oleh karena itu diperlukan suatu sistem pendidikan yang dapat memenuhi kebutuhan masyarakat industri di Amerika.Dengan adanya reformasi pendidikan yang bersifat demokratis pragmatis, yang ditulis John Dewey dalam bukunya Democracy and Education, diharapkan masalah yang ada pada masa transisi dari agraris ke industri dapat terpecahkan.Teori-teori dan konsep mengenai reformasi pendidikan yang demokratis digunakan oleh John Dewey dalam mengadakan reformasi ditunjang pula hal ini dengan berbagai pendapat dan konsep tentang pragmatisme karena Amerika Serikat merupakan negara yang menganut ajaran pragmatisme sehingga dapat terbentuk masyarakat yang mandiri dan percaya diri.There was a problem in America when the Civil War happened (1861-1865). It was about the opportunity to get a job because of the skills the people had. They didn't have good skills. Their abilities made them got a little salary.

At that time they had traditional method in education so that the space to be better was very bad. On the other hand, there was an industry revolution, so people tried to change their method and tried to reform the method to study so they would have good condition and good salary.

The American society on that period really needed a good method to be better to follow the development. John Dewey came with his book about education. The education that made people could change their way to be better with their abilities. The book was Democracy and Education, it was about to educate people in democracy way. The people would choose the education that could be used with them to improve their skills and knowledge. The Dewey's concepts were about self-reliance, individual and independent people by using Dewey idealism, pragmatism.