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The Influence of John Dewey on Experimental Colleges: the Black Mountain Example

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The Influence of John Dewey on Experimental Colleges: the Black Mountain Example DOCUMENT RESUME ED 385 200 HE 028 466 AUTHOR Reynolds, Katherine C. TITLE The Influence of John Dewey on Experimental Colleges: The Black Mountain Example. PUB DATE 22 Apr 95 NOTE 21p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (San Francisco, CA, April 18-22, 1995). PUB TYPE Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.) (120) Speeches/Conference Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *College Presidents; Educational Attitudes; *Educational History; *Educational Innovation; *Educational Philosophy; Experiential Learning; *Experimental Colleges; Higher Education; Holistic Approach; Liberal Arts; Student Centered Curriculum IDENTIFIERS *Black Mountain College NC; *Dewey (John); Rice (John Andrew) -. ABSTRACT This paper discusses the influence of John Dewey and his educational philosophy and methods on the development of experimental liberal arts colleges during the 1930s. It reviews the student-centered, holistic, experiential curriculum advocated by Dewey and others, and the role of John Andrew Rice in founding Black Mountain College near Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1933. The paper examines Rice's career, the reasons for the founding of Black Mountain College, the educational methods used at the college, and the influence of Dewey on the development of the college. Dewey visited the college three times during the 1930s, having a direct influence on the curriculum and instructional practices. Dewey also had an indirect effect on Rice and the college through the educational debates he participated in and the institutional examples of his philosophy and methods. (Contains 20 references.)(MDM) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** THE INFLUENCE OF JOHN DEWEY ON EXPERIMENTAL COLLEGES: THE BLACK MOUNTAIN EXAMPLE By Katherine C. Reynolds, University of South Carolina This paper was prepared for presentation at the 1995 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA, April 22, 1995. The author wishes to thank Frederick Buchanan, University of Utah, for his advice that a biography of Black Mountain College founder John Andrew Rice would be enriched by an exploration of the ideals and history of "progressive education." For further information: "PERMISSION TO -EPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS GLEN GRANTED BY Katherine C. Reynolds, Assistant Professor Katherine C. Reynolds Department of Educational Leadership and Policies 316 Ward law University of South Carolina TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Columbia. SC 29208 INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)" 803/777-6236 [email protected] U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC1 Cr<iidocument has been reproduced as Wowed from the person or organization originating rt BEST COPY AVAILABLE O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction Quality Points olvIev. or maroons stated in this dot u meat do not necessarily represent officist 2 OE RI positron or DofiCy 1 THE INFLUENCE OF JOHN DEWEY ON EXPERIMENTAL COLLEGES: THE BLACK MOUNTAIN EXAMPLE By Katherine C. Reynolds, University of South Carolina "Universities, like families and like nations, live only as theyare continually reborn, and rebirth means constantnew endeavor of thought and action, and these mean an ever renewed process of change. " (John Dewey, address at Founder's Day, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, May 1, 1939) When John Dewey chaired the 1931 "Conferenceon Curriculum for the College of Liberal Arts" at Rollins College, he pleaded ignorance of the thorny issuesto be pondered by the gathering of prominent educators from liberalarts colleges."All my recent years have been given to graduate teaching," he insistedon the opening morning of the four-day meeting. "I have had practicallyno college teaching." However, he did allow that the lack of experience might give him "the degree of ignorancenecessary to make me a suitable Chairman of this meeting." Characteristically, Dewey had observed carefullyas his own children attended college, and he noted this to thegroup at Rollins as his most noteworthy source of thought about undergraduate education.Maintaining that his children were offered "a deadly scheme" of six courses, two hours ata time, in their freshman years, he recalled telling them, "I didn't care about their slightingsome courses, but I did hope they would find some one thing they were interested in to which they couldreally devote their 3 2 thoughts and mental operations" (Rollins College, 1931). Dewey's professed limitations concerning his understanding of undergraduate education may have provoked more than a few smiles among the impressive group of educators invited to Winter Park, Florida, to debate the ideal liberal arts college curriculum.Several of them already viewed Dewey and the progressive education movement as a source of insight and an inspiration to experimentation in undergraduate liberal education.Among the probable smilers around the conference table was Constance Warren, president of nearly two-year-old Sarah Lawrence College, a brave and thoughtful experiment committed to progressive ideals in women's education. Also attending--and perhaps smiling--was Beatrice Doerschuk, Sarah Lawrence's academic dean. The college's central commitments to individual student interests and learning settings governed by democratic principles were so rooted in Dewey's philosophy of education that president Warren eventually would insist, "This college does not claim to have discovered anything new in educational philosophy. The principles of so-called 'progressive education' on which it was founded have long been known and practicedon the secondary school level" (1940, p. 261). Also present at the Rollins conference was Antioch College president Arthur Morgan, who had recently saved his institution from the brink of bankruptcy withan experimental work-study curriculumthatsacrificedneitherliberallearning nor preparation for employment.Morgan was fond of quoting Dewey's educational philosophies in Antioch Notes, the college periodical he started in 1923.Eagerly supportive of a progressive aim for undergraduate education, he noted of the American 4 college: Its business is to orient and to integrate personality, to develop the entire mind and character of the student. Unless it sees its vital work and does it, the college will be ground out of existence between the upper and nether millstones of the graduate school and the junior college. All its endowments will but prolong the process" (1930, p. 220). Dean Max Mc Conn of Lehigh University, Dr. James Harvey Robinson of the Nev. School for Social Research, and Dr. Goodwin Watson of Teachers College were among the other conference participants who could readily trace experimentation in higher education to the spirit of educational inquiry spurred by Dewey's prolific writing and speaking. Deviation, Adaptation, and Experimentation The conference attendees at Rollins reflected an environment of experimentation that seemed to permeate post-secondary liberal education for approximately two decades, starting in the 1920's. Some historians have noted roots of this creative, non-traditional movement in Dewey's ideas about the role of education in social change and the role of the student in forging educational aims and substance (Cremin, 1962; Grant, 1984; Rudolph, 1962; Townsend, Newell and Wiese. 1992). The popular discussion about progressivity in the schools took hold when college and university educators had begun to voice concerns about trends that placed less emphasis on the development of students and more emphasis on the development of specialized knowledge. The example set by progressive educators who tested ideas innew laboratory schools and in reforms at existing schools also may have encouragedsome college educators to make the transition 5 4 from vocal to visionary. The completely transformed Antioch College and the newly founded Sarah Lawrence College soon were joined by additional experimenters.Bennington College in Vermont opened its doors in 1932 with progressive educator William Kilpatrick at the helm of its board of trustees and with a commitment to community ideals, practitioner faculty members, art fully integrated into the curriculum, and self-directed learning. Bennington president Robert D. Leigh noted inhis1929 prospectus document, "Educational Plan for Bennington College," that the institution would follow the lead of progressive schools in adopting the aims of, "individuality, direct experience, serious interest,initiative, creative and independent work, and self-dependence" (qtd. in Brockway, 1981, p. 35).Black Mountain College in North Carolina was founded in 1933 with central themes of democraticgovernance, student i..terest and independence, art central to the curriculum, and in-classroom experience.Ninety-year-old Olivet College opted for experimental status in 1934 when a new president, Joseph Brewer, replaced its traditional curriculum with tutorials andan emphasis on "allowing each student to find the subject of his particular interest" (qtd. in Reithmiller, 1982,p. 122). In 1935, Bard College (formerly St. Stephen's) surfacedas an experiment along the Hudson River conducted by Teachers College faculty.Another complete make-over occurred at Goddard College,
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