L. Thomas Hopkins (1889 in

Truro, Massachusetts Truro is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, comprising two villages: Truro and North Truro. Located slightly more than 100 miles (160 km) by road from Boston, it is a summer vacation community just south of the n ...

– 1982), was a progressive education theorist, consultant, and curriculum leader. He completed all of his major writings while he was a professor and the laboratory school director at the Teachers College,

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

in 1910 and 1911 In 1922 he completed the Ed. D degree at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

under the mentorship of professors Alexander Inglis and

Walter Dearborn Walter Fenno Dearborn (July 19, 1878 – June 21, 1955) was a pioneering American educator and experimental psychologist who helped to establish the field of reading education. Dearborn, who approached the study of psychology from the perspective ...

. After he finished at Harvard, he accepted a tenured position at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

, Boulder. In 1929 Hopkins was invited to join the faculty of Teachers College, Columbia University as a professor of education. He stayed at Teachers College, Columbia University for the next 25 years. He retired from Teachers College in 1954. He was also a

Fulbright scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

from 1956-1957. He surveyed Italian schools in 1957 and taught at

Wheelock College Wheelock College was a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The college was founded in 1888 as the Miss Wheelock's Kindergarten Training School and was merged into Boston University as part of the university's Boston Univer ...

in Boston and at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

in the 1960s. In 1960 he chaired the committee on Schools and Moral Values for the White house Conference on Education. In 1971 he retired yet again but this time with his wife, Hester Hopkins, to Truro on Cape Cod. There he continued to write and speak. He completed his memoirs and organized his papers until right before he died in 1982. Until this day his papers are still located at the University of Colorado library in Boulder, Colorado. Hopkins's major ideas are outlined in three of his numerous books. In Integration, Its Meaning and Application (1937), he argued, contrary to many current interpretations of integrated curriculum, that integration is much more than merely combining subject matter areas around a common theme (i.e., the thematic unit). In Interaction: The Democratic Process (1941), Hopkins incorporated a social dynamic to expand the idea of the development of the individual or personal organism. In the Emerging Self in School and Home (1954), Hopkins showed that education is not a function of schooling alone. In this book, he developed the image of an organic group, contrasting it with a mere aggregate group, to depict the integration of school, home, and community. Hopkins takes what was called "was curriculum" and called it useless. He then said "is curriculum," and then went on to say "celebrates the experiential...deals with the whole pupil who develops through internal control of the learnings that he or she self-selects for personal growth." He explained the curriculum as what a student takes from a teacher and takes a better understanding of it to help them grow in higher maturity.Wojcik, Jenny T. The Life and Work of L.Thomas Hopkins. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois, 1991.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, L. Thomas 1889 births 1982 deaths Tufts University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni University of Colorado Boulder faculty Columbia University faculty University of Maine faculty People from Truro, Massachusetts