Evelyn Riggs Dewey (1889-1965), was an

education reform Education reform is the name given to the goal of changing public education. The meaning and education methods have changed through debates over what content or experiences result in an educated individual or an educated society. Historically, t ...

er and social activist and author of several books on education. Prior to her education work she was involved in the

Women's Trade Union League The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL played an important ...

, particularly concerning the

New York shirtwaist strike of 1909 The New York shirtwaist strike of 1909, also known as the Uprising of the 20,000, was a labour strike primarily involving Jewish women working in New York shirtwaist factories. It was the largest strike by female American workers up to that date. ...

. She was the daughter of the philosopher, psychologist and education reformer

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...

and the educator Alice Chipman Dewey.

Life and Work

Dewey was born in 1889, the second of six children born to the educationalists John Dewey and Alice Chipman Dewey. In 1909, she was studying at

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, during time she was involved in the

(WTUL) and supported the

. Evelyn traveled in Europe with her parents, visiting

Montessori schools The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

, and in the winter of 1914, she and her parents met

Maria Montessori Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori ( , ; August 31, 1870 – May 6, 1952) was an Italian physician and educator best known for the philosophy of education that bears her name, and her writing on scientific pedagogy. At an early age, Montessori e ...

, to whom they were introduced by Evelyn's college roommate, the Montessori teacher

Margaret Naumburg Margaret Naumburg (May 14, 1890 – February 26, 1983) was an American psychologist, educator, artist, author and among the first major theoreticians of art therapy. She named her approach dynamically oriented art therapy. Prior to working in a ...

. While satisfied by what they saw at the schools, neither Evelyn nor her mother seemed impressed by Montessori herself. It was following this visit, and the visit of her father and adopted brother, Sabino, to the Marietta Johnson School of Organic Education, that Evelyn and John Dewey decided on a survey of experimental schools in the US, such as those run by William Wirt in

Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the ...

. This was published in 1915 as ''Schools of To-morrow'', one of the key texts of educational reform. Evelyn was probably responsible for the descriptive chapters in ''Schools of To-morrow'', in which the phrase '

learning by doing Learning by doing refers to a theory of education. This theory has been expounded by American philosopher John Dewey and Latinamerican pedagogue Paulo Freire. It's a hands-on approach to learning, meaning students must interact with their envir ...

' is first used to describe the educational approach taken in some of the schools that the Deweys admired. Around the time of the publication of ''Schools of To-Morrow'' Evelyn Dewey started working administering IQ tests at the Public Education Association of the City of New York (PEA) Psychological Survey, where she was one of several supporters of the WTUL who worked under Lucy Sprague Mitchell. In 1916, Sprague Mitchell, Caroline Pratt and Harriet Merrill Johnson founded the Bureau of Educational Experiments (BEE), of which Evelyn Dewey was one of 12 charter members. At the BEE Dewey ran experiments renovating rural schools and running school farms, which she reported in her 1920 book ''New Schools for Old''.. Dewey left the BEE in 1919, and worked on editing her parents' ''Letters from China and Japan''. She was married in 1932 to Granville Smith Jr., and continued to speak and write on education in the 1920s and 30s under her maiden name. She died in 1965 and is buried in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Publications

* (with John Dewey) ''Schools of to-morrow'' (1915) * ''New schools for old: the regeneration of the Porter School'' (1919) * (editor) John Dewey and Alice Dewey
Letters from China and Japan
' (1920) * (with Emily Child and

Beardsley Ruml Beardsley Ruml (5 November 1894 – 19 April 1960) was an American statistician, economist, philanthropist, planner, businessman and man of affairs in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His father, Wentzle Ruml, was ...

) ''Methods and results of testing school children'' (1921) * ''Dalton laboratory plan'' (1922) * (with Katherine Glover) ''Children of the new day'' (1934) * ''Behavior development in infants a survey of the literature on prenatal and postnatal activity, 1920-1934'' (1935)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewey, Evelyn 1889 births 1965 deaths Education reform Barnard College alumni Reformers American social activists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers