Dewey's Catechism (get your cup o' coffee and plan to stay a while, this one's long)

Our home school group visited a local public library today to learn about what the library has to offer and how it is organized. The library manager talked to the kids briefly and gave them a "tour" of the library; "This shelf holds our biographies and this shelf is the inspirational fiction. Yada, yada, yada..." My children were rather bored with this exercise, and I can't say I blame them. I had higher hopes myself.

The librarian explained how to find materials quickly and gave a brief history of the Dewey Decimal System to which I had not heretofore been exposed, despite being a graduate of public school and an English major from an accredited liberal arts college with the emphasis on liberal. She asserted that Mr. Dewey had arranged his entire system from the viewpoint of a caveman.

What, you say? Yes, that's what the lady said. Naturally, I found this to be rather disturbing and determined to check up on this theory for myself.

At home, I googled old Mr. Dewey and found that he was a man whose phone number would not have been in my speed dial. I did find it interesting, however, that he is credited with having invented hanging files. Next, I googled Dewey and caveman together...this led to a long list of sites waiting to tell the following: (For sake of brevity, I have cut a bit of it.)

Dewey's Caveman
The Dewey Decimal System - Non-Fiction Arrangement
To create his system of classification Melvil Dewey imagined how a caveman would view the world and asked himself a series of questions. This became the framework for the ten Dewey classes that help keep information about the same topic shelved together.
Who am I?
100 Philosophy and psychology
How man thinks about himself
Who made me?
200 Religion and Mythology
Man thinks about God
Ancient myths and modern practices
Who is the man in the next cave?
300 Social Science
Man thinks about other people.
How does man get along with others in a family or community? What we need to make communities work; “community helpers"; police and fire departments...
How can I make that man understand me?
400 Language
Man learns to communicate with others through words.
Dictionaries, word and phrase origins, sign language, parts of speech.
How can I understand nature and the world around me?500 Natural Science
Man learns to understand nature on the land, in the sea, and in the sky.
Experiments; math; astronomy; chemistry; geology; weather; seasons; fossils; habitats; plants and animals.
How can I use what I know about nature?
600 Applied Science and Useful Arts - Technology
Primitive men learned about fire and how to make weapons. Man through the ages learned about the wheel, medicine, ...and how to make all the things we use.
Inventions; medicine; human body; cars; trucks; ships; air planes; gardening; cooking; manufacturing; construction; pets.
How can I enjoy my leisure time?
700 Fine Art and Recreation
By this time, primitive man had more time to do things he enjoyed. He learned how to paint pictures and to create music. He also learned how to dance and play games.
Architecture; drawing; painting; crafts; music; jokes and riddles; sports.
How can I give my children a record of man's heroic deeds?
800 Literature
Man became a storyteller. He created sagas, fables, epic poetry, and plays about his ancestors and the people he knew. Later he put these into writing for all people to read.
Poetry and plays.
How can I leave a record for men of the future?
900 Geography, History and Biography
So man began to write about events that had occurred everywhere and about people who had participated in these events.
World history; countries of the world; Native Americans; biographies (92)
000 General Works
... bibliographies, books about books, and...reference books.

In looking at the questions, I was struck by how man-centered this system is and how much it reminded me of the questions found in our children's catechism. All of the questions posed by Mr. Dewey are answered in one Book, God's Perfect Library, the Bible.

I do not know if this story is accurate, but it was all over the place on sites recommended to librarians and teachers. The system works well enough, it's just the foundation for it that bothers me.

The librarian also cautioned the children not to believe everything they read on the Web because so much is biased...implying that the books in her library contained only truths. Just because someone types something doesn't make it so applies equally to computers and books.