A paragraph from Dewey’s Pedagogic Creed, and note the final sentence:

“In sum, I believe that the individual who is to be educated is a social individual and that society is an organic [i.e. inseparable] union of individuals.  If we eliminate the social factor from the child we are left only with an abstraction; if we eliminate the individual factor from society, we are left only with an inert and lifeless mass.  Education, therefore, must begin with a psychological insight into the child’s capacities, interests, and habits.  It must be controlled at every point by reference to these same considerations.  These powers, interests, and habits must be continually interpreted — we must know what they mean.  [Note well:]  They must be translated into terms of their social equivalents — into terms of what they are capable of in the way of social service.”

The primary and relentless goal of Dewey’s ideal school system is to make each child a servant of the group, so that later he will be a useful servant to “society.”  According to Dewey, the reason a child is taught a skill is so he can later perform that higher “social” goal.  If a skill makes a child less of a servant, it has no place in Dewey’s school.

Dewey may be less than consistent at times, but this is what he says again and again in his books.