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John Dewey is a well-known American philosopher and leader in education. After he graduated with his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1884, he started teaching at the University of Michigan in September, moved to University of Minnesota after five years, and University of Chicago where he held the department chair position then finally, he retired from Columbia University in 1929.
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John Dewey advocated for active learning for students in classrooms rather than reading, memorizing, and reciting without any critical thinking and the importance of democracy in education, social structure, and society. He believed that the school and learning settings for the students must represent the outside world’s practical lives.
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John Dewey founded the American Association of University Professors and took office as the first president together with Authur O. Lovejoy, philosophy professor at Johns Hopkins University who became the first secretary of the association in 1915 (Indiana State University, 2023). He also helped to organize the New York City Teachers Union. Additionally, he held the position of president of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1899 (American Psychological Association, n.d.)
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John Dewey wrote and published one of his most famous philosophical work, Experience and Nature in 1925. During his time in life, he wrote 37 books, 766 articles in 151 journals and he was not only recognized as America's preeminent philosopher but also called a "second Confucius" in China. The historian Henry Steele Commager also recognized him as "the guide, the mentor, and the conscience of the American people" (Gibbon, 2019).