Nanjing University a center of Confucian thought and humanistic scholarship. During this period, Nanjing University was known as the foremost "Oriental Education Centre" and recognized as an academic and cultural exchange centre for east and west. Many scholars visited and instructed there, including the American educationist Paul Monroe, W. H. Kilpatrick, E. L. Thorndike, philosopher John Dewey, British philosopher Bertrand Russell, German philosopher Hans Driesch and the Indian (also Bengali) poet Rabindranath Tagore. The university became the capital national university after Nanking was made the capital by Nationalist Government, initially renamed National Dyisyi Chungshan University (or called National Nanking Chungshan University) in
John Dewey High School School was named a New American High School for serving as a model for schools nationwide that have achieved high levels of success, and was showcased nationally at the White House. In 2003, John Dewey High School was named as one of 209 successful schools that then-chancellor Joel L. Klein exempted from the citywide uniform curriculum. In 2007, John Dewey High School was named one of America's Top 500 High Schools by U.S. News & World Report. In 2008 and 2009, Newsweek named John Dewey High School one of America's Top 6% of high schools in its rankings, citing "how