Dewey, Parker, Blaine, and the Chicago Laboratory School: Potential for Success or Failure of Egos

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  In Roundtable Session: If John Dewey Were Alive Today ...

Abstract

Although much is written about Dewey’s Laboratory School at the University of Chicago, including Dewey’s own classic, The School and Society, Dewey’s leadership of the school was short-lived; only six years when Dewey left abruptly for a position at Columbia University. While the story tells of the disagreement between Dewey and the University over Alice Dewey’s removal as principal, the deeper story concerns the differences between Dewey, Colonel Parker, and Mrs. Emmons Blaine; three people passionate about education with differing views on how schooling should be practiced. Their disagreements, the factions they created, and their egos may have kept the three from becoming the educational triumvirate that could have revolutionized Chicago schools. This is the story of these three individuals.

Author

• Susan R. Studer, California Baptist University