Chapter 13: Lawrence E. Metcalf: In the Right Place at the Right Time

The work of Lawrence E. Metcalf sits squarely on the trajectory from the philosophy of John Dewey to the “new social studies” of the 1960s. As will be delineated herein, not only was Metcalf a product of his times, but he was also a leader among the generation of post-World War II social studies scholars. Because of his commitment to reflective theory and liberal values, he became a spokesperson for issues-centered social studies during a period of anti-Communist fervor and conservative educational thinking.

Metcalf’s most significant ideas evolved from the prewar philosophical foundations of John Dewey and Boyd H. Bode, as well as the social studies theories of his mentor, Alan Griffm. He was also influenced by such contemporaries as H. Gordon Hullfish, Ernest E. Bayles, and, of course, his longtime coauthor, Maurice P. Hunt. He and Hunt were students of Griffin at the Ohio State University in the 1940s.¹