PREFACE The present work is a continuation of A History of Education before the Middle Ages and A History of Education during the Middle Ages and the Transition to Modern Times. In a measure it covers the same period as the Great Educators of Three Centuries; but, as indicated in the preface to that book, the purpose and method of approach of the two works are quite different. The biographical material has here been reduced to a minimum; more attention is given to general educational movements than to individual reformers; and an attempt has been made to select and interpret the facts of the successive chapters in such a way as to form a connected narrative, and to furnish a suitable historical and social perspective. To obtain such a setting, it has seemed well to interweave a certain amount of political history. Owing, however, to the extent and ramifications of modern historical movements, such ancillary matter has proved less tractable and illuminating, and has been given less prominence than in the preceding volumes. And while I have continued to view the educational process from the standpoint of the development of individualism, the greater complexity of the subject-matter and a due respect for the facts have saved me from taking this interpretation too seriously. Save for the brief initial and concluding chapters, there is little express reference to it. More striking characteristics of the book will probably be found in the emphasis laid upon educational institutions and practices, rather than upon theoretical development; and in the larger place given to American education. The account of each educational movement has included at least an attempt to trace its influence upon the content, method, and organization of education in this country, while three chapters have been devoted exclusively to the rise of our educational system. For this somewhat special point of view, I trust that no apology is needed, as the book is intended primarily for use in the United States, and will be of service to our teachers largely as it succeeds in focusing the educational progress of this country. It will be quite possible, however, for those readers in England and other countries, who have been so hospitable in their reception of my former works, to neglect or curtail these parts of the book, and still have a body of material sufficient to represent satisfactorily the history of education during the past two centuries. While this book has been written to complete a series of three volumes and render them available for use as a continuous text in courses upon the history of education, it can be used quite independently of the previous publications. By itself it may serve as a reading circle adoption, a text-book, or a work of reference. In institutions where only a term or a semester can be afforded the history of education, or where the teacher holds that there is little material of significance to American education prior to the eighteenth century, it is hoped that it may fill a long-felt want. But whatever the particular purpose it may be made to serve, the liberal citation of sources and the selected lists of supplementary reading should prove of considerable value. In preparing this volume for press, I have received help from several quarters. For rendering more accurate my descriptions of educational administration in Europe (Chapter IX) and of the modern scientific movement (Chapter X), I am greatly indebted to Professor F. E. Farrington of Columbia University and to Professor G. R. Twiss of the Ohio State University respectively. I owe a more extensive debt to Professor J. H. Coursault of the University of Missouri, Professor A. J. Jones of the University of Maine, and Professor W. H. Kilpatrick of Columbia University, who have read through practically my entire manuscript, and suggested a wide variety of changes. Likewise my wife, Helen Wadsworth Graves, has been ever at hand to advise and assist me. PHILADELPHIA, F. P. G. |