Meiklejohn, Alexander

Meiklejohn, Alexander

(mĭk`əljŏn), 1872–1964, American educator, b. Rochdale, England, grad. Brown Univ., 1893, Ph.D. Cornell, 1897. He taught philosophy at Brown (1897–1912), serving as dean after 1901 and, after 1906, as professor of logic. From 1912 to 1924 he was president of Amherst College. Meikeljohn was professor of philosophy at the Univ. of Wisconsin from 1926 to 1938 and was chairman of the Experimental College for the five years of its existence (1927–32). This experiment, in which a period of Greek civilization was studied intensively, inspired similar programs in other colleges, e.g., St. John's College. From 1933 to 1936 he taught at the Social Studies Center in San Francisco. Meiklejohn's educational theories are set forth in The Liberal College (1920), Freedom and the College (1923), and The Experimental College (1932). He also wrote What Does America Mean? (1935), Education between Two Worlds (1942), Free Speech and Its Relation to Self-Government (1948), and Political Freedom (1960, repr. 1965).

Meiklejohn, Alexander

(1872–1964) educator, philosopher; born in Rochdale, England. A childhood immigrant to the U.S.A., he greatly improved the academic quality of Amherst College during his turbulent presidency (1912–23); he directed a short-lived experimental college at the University of Wisconsin (1927–32); and, in retirement, he pioneered adult education in San Francisco.