John Dewey, William Wirt and the Gary Schools Plan: a centennial reappraisal

ABSTRACT

A century on from the height of John Dewey’s educational writings and the reputation of the Gary Schools Plan as a model of progressive education, the paper reappraises two key matters: the relationship between John Dewey and William Wirt, the first superintendent of the Gary Schools in Gary Indiana, and the coherence between John Dewey’s progressive pedagogies and the early years of the Gary Schools Plan. Through drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources of information, the paper analyses the connections between John Dewey, William Wirt and the Gary Schools Plan in their shared quest to extend progressive education into new urban and industrial schooling contexts. The paper highlights areas where existing assumptions require review and the extent to which the relationship and connections between Dewey and Wirt’s work were mutually beneficial. The paper ends by calling for further related research based on the archival material available.

KEYWORDS:

• John Dewey
• William Wirt
• Gary Schools Plan
• progressive education
• United States of America

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Malcolm Thorburn is a Lecturer in Education at the Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on conceptualizing educational values, John Dewey, interdisciplinary learning and health and wellbeing from both historical and contemporary perspectives. He is the editor of Wellbeing and Contemporary Schooling. London: Routledge, 2017.

Notes

1. Despite the Dewey’s departure the Laboratory Schools in Chicago remain to this day. Around one-half of students are ‘the children of University of Chicago faculty, including at one time the children of Barack and Michelle Obama’ Fesmire (2015, p. 20).

2. Letter from John Dewey to William Wirt, 10 May 1914, William A. Wirt Manuscripts, Lilly library, Indiana University, Bloomington.

3. Letter from Evelyn Dewey to William Wirt, 12 January 1915, William A. Wirt Manuscripts, Lilly library, Indiana University, Bloomington.

4. Ibid.

5. Letter from John Dewey to William Wirt, 21 December 1917, William A. Wirt Manuscripts, Lilly library, Indiana University, Bloomington.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.