In other words, it's false but accurate.
“...false but accurate.”
No.
Dewey actually said several other things that show his take on children’s independent thought was completely different than characterized by the misquote. So, the misquote is inaccurate. The only sense in which it rings true is in it’s placement of Dewey as an avid collectivist, which he was. Dewey’s humanist, socialist, Marxist, collectivist streak was a mile wide, and not conducive of the formation of an educational structure suited to the preservation of this Republic. Any extent to which his influence on the developing system was marginalized can be considered good.