John Dewey was an acknowledged pragmatic philosopher and progressive educator of the twentieth century. His views were shaped by the major trends of changing images of America's frontier, rugged individualism and community, social, political and economic development and progressive curriculum and administrative innovation in education. John Dewey was born in Vermont and lived from 1859-1952. He attended local public schools and the University of Vermont at age 16. He studied the classics and read philosophers like Kant, Comte, Huxley and Herbert Spencer. His graduate study in philosophy was at Johns Hopkins University and he lectured on Spencer and John Stuart Mill at University of Michigan.