Vivian T. Thayer

(1886-1979) born at Tamora, Seward County. Educator, administrator, author, considered a leader of the moderate wing of the progressive education movement advocated by John Dewey, he believed the task of educators was to find ways to help students mature, achieve independence, and contribute to their community according to their own needs and interests, served as director of Ethical Culture Schools in New York City from 1928 to 1948, and chaired for eight years the Commission on Secondary School Curriculum for the Progressive Education Association, published ten books and 70 papers, was named Pioneer Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association in 1964. Consult Educational Forum, Vol 34 (May 1970) 495-504 and New York Times obituary, July 22, 1979, p. 34 and National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol 61 (1982) 42-43 and Biographical Dictionary of Modern Educators (Greenwood Press, 1997) 312-313.

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