§63. John Dewey. XXIII. Education. Vol. 17. Later National Literature, Part II. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
VOLUME XVII. Later National Literature, Part II.

XXIII. Education.

§ 63. John Dewey.

In this field of philosophical interpretation the writings of one man. John Dewey, 17 transcend all others in American educational literature. In fact it may be said that in the field of strictly technical literature Professor Dewey has made the one great American contribution. While most of these writings have appeared in monographic form, such as his School and Society (1890), Interest as Related to Effort (1896), Child and the Curriculum (1902), How We Think, (1911), his Democracy and Education (1917) is a complete logical scheme of educational interpretation, the only one ever worked out by an American, and the one most representative of present world thought and modern science.

In the literature of appreciation some contributions have been made. Professor Barrett Wendell’s Universities in France uses the foil of French customs and institutions to reveal American light and shade. Professor Gayley’s Idols, as well as occasional essays from a number of pens, reminds us of the inexhaustible field for appreciation or for criticism of the teacher’s experience or of the teacher’s problems. Effective and delightful in its form is Professor Francis G. Peabody’s Education for Life (1918), an appreciation of one of America’s most significant educational experiments, Hampton Institute.