American philosopher and educator Boyd Henry Bode (1873-1953) was a leading spokesman for pragmatism in the philosophy of education. He supported progressive education, but criticized its excesses and opposed educational theories that he thought were undemocratic.

Boyd Henry Bode was born on October 24, 1873, to Dutch immigrant parents in rural northern Illinois, and he grew up in Grundy County, Iowa, where his father was a minister in the Christian Reformed Church, an offshoot of the Dutch Reformed Church. Bode's upbringing as a rural immigrant minister's son left a permanent imprint on his thinking. Although the father-son relationship was amicable and respectful, Bode was later to reject authoritarian religion on philosophical grounds.

Bode was the eldest of eight children and the only child allowed to pursue extensive formal education. He attended elementary school in Wellsburg, Iowa, and high school in Steamboat Rock, Iowa. He received B.A. degrees at Penn...