A Student's History of Education (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from A Student's History of Education

There is a growing conviction among those engaged in training teachers that the History of Education must justify itself. It is believed that, if this subject is to con tribute to the professional equipment of the teacher, its material must be selected with reference to his specific needs. Antiquarian interests and encyclopaedic complete ness are alluring and may in their place prove praise Worthy and valuable, but they do not in themselves supply any definite demand in the training of teachers. The greatest services that the History of Education can perform for the teacher are to impel him to analyze his problems more completely and to throw light upon the school practices with which he is himself concerned. By presenting a series of clear-cut views of past conditions, often in marked contrast to his own, it should make him conscious that the present educational situation has to a large degree been traditionally received, and it should at the same time especially help him to understand the origin and significance of current practices.

In this way a study of the History of Education will disrupt the teacher's complacent acceptance of the pres ent, and will enable him to reconstruct his ideas in the light of the peculiar conditions out of which the educa tion of his times has sprung. Whenever historical records do not assist in such an analysis and synthesis of present day problems, they may be frankly dismissed from dis cassion. This conception of the subject, I have myself.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.