John Edwin Windrow

John Edwin Windrow (September 26, 1899 – May 26, 1984) was an American educator. He became known as "Mr. Peabody" for his five-decade career at Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. He was a critic of Nashville's social ills and intellectual segregation.

Early life Windrow was born on September 26, 1899, in Eagleville, Tennessee, to John C. Windrow and Sarah Glenn. He graduated from Middle Tennessee State University, and he earned a PhD from Peabody College in 1937. He was a staunch critic of Peabody's merger with Vanderbilt University, effective in 1979. Windrow also edited a collection of essays authored by Alfred Leland Crabb, a Peabody professor and novelist. Reviewing it for the Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Professor Robert A. McGaw of Vanderbilt University explained that Windrow started the book with a 22-page introduction about Crabb and Peabody's history, followed by Crabb's essays, including one about William Walker.

Views on Nashville In 1945, Windrow criticized Nashville's elite for ignoring the city's many ills, including:

Views on I.Q. tests In a 1965 article for the Peabody Reflector, Windrow argued that intellectual segregation based on IQ tests was un-American. Instead, he argued that schools should give students a chance to develop by studying together regardless of test scores and rankings. He emphasized,

Personal life and death Windrow married Elizabeth Grigsby. They had a daughter.

Windrow died on May 26, 1984, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Selected works