Application of John Dewey's Ideas to an Inner City Alternative High School.

This paper shows how the Sullivan House Alternative High School, Chicago, Illinois, incorporated the philosophy of John Dewey into the schools curriculum, discipline, and the relationship between teachers, first as a small school with much freedom, and later as a more structured high school. Dewey, in The School and Society, identified four natural instincts of children that schools should see as resources and around which they should develop their programs. Janice Greer, in founding the Sullivan House school, used these instincts and six tenets derived from Dewey's writings to organize the schools as a small learning community. The fist tenet is to help students see themselves as valued members of a community. Next is offering teachers adequate time to feel and show concern for their students. The third and fourth are to engage students in working out real problems that will develop the habits of mind necessary for real learning and constructive work. The fifth is to have an emphasis on creative activity, and the final tenet is to encourage adults and students to interact with much informal conversation and class discussion. These tenets were made integral to the formation of the Sullivan House alternative school. (SLD)