Antecedents of Schools as Community Hubs: The Lasting Influence of John Dewey's Philosophy

This paper surveys both contemporary and historic interpretations of community schools with respect to philosopher John Dewey’s web of life concept, where life and pedagogical practice were viewed in terms of their interrelations. As Founder of The Laboratory School, completed in 1903 on the University of Chicago campus, he proposed distinctive facilities in keeping with his educational vision. Chicago Public School’s Community School Initiative, became the largest community schools’ system in the United States. Nettelhorst School is presented to illustrate the district’s mission. A circumscribed historical timeline provides context. The paper closes by assessing associations between curriculum, society, and the built environment, appraising a contemporary community school system in terms of Dewey’s ideas proposed more than a century ago.