News and JDHS Memories

These articles came from many different sources. Some are from local newspapers, some from the New York Daily News and The New York Times. 

These early articles show how different John Dewey High School was  from traditional high schools and what a revolutionary idea the Dewey Model was. 

 The memories came from various people who felt the need to share their experiences at Dewey and in one instance after 9/11. Paul Friedman was a 1974 graduate of John Dewey High School. He perished when the towers came down on September 11, 2001.

Newspaper Articles from local newspapers before  the opening of John Dewey High School.

New York Times Articles about Dewey through the early years     

High School Student Environmental Activism at John Dewey High School, Brooklyn, New York from “Black, White and Green: High School Student Activism in the Civil Rights and Environmental Movements, 1945 -1975” A doctoral dissertation by Neil Philip Buffett, Stony Brook University

Dewey Memories originally posted on a Yahoo group dedicated to JDHS

Frank Lewis, entered Dewey in 1969- post on Facebook in response the question: Did he consider any other schools beside Dewey..like  Stuyvescent?

Frank Lewis 

‎"@Hyde - Its funny you should mention Stuyvesant. If Dewey hadn't existed I would have ended up going there. My brother is a graduate (1965) and at the time I was in 9th grade I had a cousin attending there who was looking forward to having me join him on the football team (he was confident I'd make that cut). (I'm typing this in the very room where I decided to go to Dewey...my dining room. I live in my late parents apartment (now co-owned by me and my brother). One day in early 1969 my Mother showed me a newspaper article about John Dewey (after I got an announcement about it at my Junior High School). 

Most of the students in my Junior High school reacted negatively to the anouncement. The typical reaction was "I don't want to be a guinea pig in an experiment". I didn't think much of it either at that point. It wasn't a very attractive presentation.

When my Mother showed me the newspaper article in our Dining room my cousin (from Stuyvesant) was with me. She read it out loud and half way thru the article my cousin shouted: "Shoot! Go to that school! Forget about Stuyvesant!". The article described the Dewey system in detail as well as some of the course offerings which at the time were highly unique and exotic compared to the average NY High School. At that point my cousin was in his 3rd year in Stuyvesant (he started in the 9th grade). Listening to someone who's opinion I highly respected and had already been thru the high school I was going to was the decisive element."