John Lawrence Childs (11 January 1899 – 31 January 1985)[1] was a 20th-century American educator, disciple of John Dewey, and author of The Educational Frontier who taught at Teachers College of Columbia University and took part in the progressive New York movement from the 1930s to the 1960s.
John Lawrence Childs was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
In 1923, he began graduate studies at Union Theological Seminary (UTC): one of his professors at the Teachers College was W. H. Kilpatrick.
In 1935, Childs also joined the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) but in 1937 resigned due to rise in Communist influence.
On January 5, 1947, he resigned to give more time to his job as director of education at Columbia's Teachers College.