Introduction

John Dewey is more than a scholarly influence in our household. In fact, you might say that he always has been, to borrow from Dewey, part of our day-to-day living—and not just a part of our preparation for some future life. Rick’s first publication was a short piece reflecting on the 70th anniversary of Democracy and Education (1916/1980). We first met at a conference when each of us went to hear the other’s paper on Dewey and Freire. Some of our friends might even recall the holiday greeting cards that featured J. D. wearing a Santa Claus cap and expressing the hope that the receiver would “experience a happy holiday.” If you were to talk to any of Donna’s graduate students, they likely would recount the missionary zeal with which they were introduced to How We Think (1910/1978) and might still wonder whether we based our wedding vows on “My Pedagogic Creed” (1897/1972). In a way, you could say that the idea for this collection was conceived as a sort of evangelical effort.