Dewey taught philosophy at the University of Michigan until 1894, when he was called to the University of Chicago, where President W. R. Harper was creating overnight one of the world's two or three greatest universities. Dewey headed the School of Education, and worked closely with philosophers and with the intellectuals based at [[Hull House]]. His now adopted the philosophy of [[pragmatism]] that had been developed by [[Charles Sanders Peirce]] and [[William James]]. By 1903 the "Chicago school" of Pragmatic Instrumentalism was in full swing, and the educational experiments initiated in Dewey's "laboratory school" were beginning to influence educational theory at leading universities. After fighting with Harper Dewey went to Columbia University in 1904, where he was based until his retirement in 1930. Worldwide recognition was seen in his invitations to consult on educational policy with emerging nations, notably China, Japan, Turkey, Mexico, and the Soviet Union.
===Anti-Communism===
Dewey played a major role in stopping Communist infiltration of the American intellectual community and in developing a liberal anti-Communist policy. He generally supported American foreign policy, including both World Wars, and was a strong opponent of both the Soviets and the Nazis. His argument that true liberals have to reject cooperation with Communists became the dominant liberal position in the late 1930s.
===Favors local control of schools===
Invited in 1924 by the new republican government in Turkey to draw up a report on the country's educational system, Dewey warned about the dangers of centralization and the removal of local control. The Turkish "Law of Unification of Instruction", however, precluded the implementation of his recommendations, mandating instead the use of education to enforce the ideology of the new state and creating a Ministry of Education which was a centralized bureaucracy rather than merely an intellectual guide in the way that Dewey envisaged.<ref> Selahattin Turan, "John Dewey's Report of 1924 and His Recommendations on the Turkish Educational System Revisited," ''History Of Education'' 2000 29(6): 543-555. </ref>
==Impact on China ==
Just before the [[May Fourth movement]] of 1919, Dewey was invited to China by members of China's new intellectual circles. In the following two years, Dewey toured and lectured in many cities in China and systematically propagated pragmatism. Pragmatism caught on wildly, prevailing throughout intellectual and educational circles. At the same time, because his theories fitted in with the needs of the May Fourth movement's ideological emancipation and China's economic development and educational reform, Dewey became the focus of the media and a favorite foreign thinker and educator in intellectual circles in China. Many scholars absorbed pragmatism's positivist spirit and developed Chinese modern positivist philosophy and historical studies. In the meantime, Dewey's educational theory also became the soul of the new educational system of China through its influence on the key links in the reforms and on the standards and curricula of the new educational system. Pragmatism was replaced by Marxism after 1949, but Dewey's reputation has been revived since the fall of Mao.
==Criticism==
Dewey has been refered referred to as a "totalitarian socialist who envisioned total government control over all education through the agency of public schools." Dewey’s book, Democracy and Education, was listed by ''[[Human Events]]'' magazine as fifth in a list of the ten most harmful books of the 19th and 20th centuries behind the ''[[Communist Manifesto]]'' by [[Karl Marx]], ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' by [[Adolf Hitler]], ''Quotations from Chairman Mao'' by [[Mao Zedong]], and the ''Kinsey Report'' by [[Alfred Kinsey]]. <ref>http://www.newmediajournal.us/staff/porter/2009/09102009.htm</ref>
==Quotes==