John Dewey (1859-1952) founded the Laboratory schools in 1896. We recently began
the celebration of our Centennial, amidst great cheer, laughter and exactly 100 birthday cakes.
Dewey, hailed by Alan Ryan as "The American philosopher," rejected old-fashioned schooling
and believed in multiculturalism, as well as using different approaches to solve different
kinds of problems and "independent thought."
Lab is just that, diverse and bursting with new thoughts and ideas, some of them Dewey's, but most of them our own. Because my grandfather, Robert Redfield, and 12 of his descendants have attended Lab and we have family property near Burlington, Vermont (Dewey's birthplace) I sort of feel a tie towards John Dewey, whose spirit is alive and well in Lab, 44 years after his death. Some of Dewey's critics claimed that he was preparing children for an "Open, inclusive Democratic society that doesn't exist." Maybe so, but that society is alive and well here at Lab, and has been growing stronger everyday for an even 100 years.
Happy birthday, to you, John Dewey and the Laboratory schools!
Needlman's Class Centennial Birthday Greeting
Curt Lieneck's class former teacher project
By James Adam Redfield,
Special thanks to
Class of 2002
Alan Ryan and Naimoi Bliven.