Dewey, Hippie Communes, and Education

In this article I aim to establish a relevant connection between John Dewey’s educational philosophy and the hippie communes of the United States during the nineteen sixties and seventies. After an assessment of Dewey’s philosophy against the background of the countercultural sixties, I summarize and organize Dewey’s philosophical thought around the concepts of growth, experience, education, democracy, and occupations. I then look closely at seven memoirs describing life in five different hippie communes, and draw on them to present illustrations of the main tenets of Dewey’s educational philosophy and of its contemporary significance.