The history of education begins with the childhood of the race, and traces its intellectual development step by step to the present time. As such history is academic in character, and furnishes information concerning the educational systems, methods, theories, and practices of the past, it should be placed early in the professional pedagogical course, to serve as the foundation for an improved educational science which profits by the experience of mankind. The history of education presents many of the great problems that have interested thoughtful men, shows how some of these have been solved, and points the way to the solution of others. It studies educational systems, selecting the good, and rejecting the bad, and introducing the student directly to the pedagogical questions that have influenced the world. For these reasons, the study of education should begin with its history.

Karl Schmidt says: "The history of the world is the history of the development of the human soul. The manner of this development is the same in the race as in the individual; the same law, because the same divine thought, rules in the individual, in a people, and in humanity. Humanity has, as the individual, its stages of progress, and it unfolds itself in them. The individual as a child is not a rational being; he becomes rational. The child has not yet the mastery over himself, but his environment is his master; he belongs not to himself, but to his surroundings. The oriental peoples are the child of humanity.... Classical antiquity represents the period of youth in the history of the world.... Christ is the type of perfected manhood. The history of the individual reflects and repeats the history of humanity, just as the history of humanity is a reflection of the history of the Cosmos, and the history of the Cosmos is an image of the life of God; all history, be it that of humanity or of the individual, of the starry heavens, or of the earth, is development of life toward God." "Where there is development, there is progress. Progress in history is only the more visible, audible, perceptible embodiment of God in humanity."[1]

In the study of the education of a people it is necessary first to become acquainted with their social, political, and religious life. To this end a knowledge of the geography and history of their country is often essential, because of the influence of climate, occupation, and environment, in shaping the character of a people. Examples of this influence are not wanting. The peculiar position of the Persians, surrounded on all sides by enemies, required a martial education as a preparation for defensive and offensive measures. Physical education was dominant among the Spartans, because of serfdom which involved the absolute control of the many by the few. No less striking are the effects of physical conditions upon all peoples in stimulating mental activity and in developing moral life, both of which processes are essential to true education. The intellectual product of the temperate zone differs from that of the torrid zone, the product of the country from that of the large city. For these reasons stress is here laid upon the geographical and historical conditions of the peoples considered.

For the same purpose we must study the home and the family, the foundations upon which the educational structure is built. The ancient Jew looked upon children as the gift of God, thereby teaching the great lesson of the divine mission of children and of the parents' responsibility for their welfare. This race has never neglected the home education, even when it became necessary to establish the school. The family was the nursery of education, and only when diversified duties made it no longer possible to train the children properly in the home was the school established. Even then the purpose of the school was but to give expression to demands which the home created. The spirit and purpose of the education of a people can be understood only when the discipline, the ideals, and the religion of the home are understood.

When we have learned the environment of a people, we are ready to study their elementary education. This takes us into the schoolroom, introduces us to the place where the school is held, indicates the course of study pursued, the discipline, methods of instruction, spirit and training of the teacher, as well as the results obtained. After this we are ready to consider the higher education, which completes the system and measures its efficiency.

Another task demanded of the student is to draw lessons from the educational systems studied, to note what can be applied to modern conditions, and to avoid the errors of the past. The product of a method, as shown in the character of the people pursuing it, is of great interest in estimating the value of a scheme of education.Great movements have often been the outcome of the teachings of some individual who, inspired by a new idea, has consecrated his life to it. Through such men the world receives new and mighty impulses toward its enlightenment, civilization takes vast strides in its development, and man approaches nearer his final emancipation. Confucius, Socrates, Augustine, Charlemagne, Luther, Bacon, Comenius, Pestalozzi, Froebel, are names that suggest the uplifting of humanity and the betterment of the world. The study of the lives of these men, of their victories and their defeats, cannot fail to be an encouragement and a suggestive lesson to teachers of all lands and all times. The history of education must therefore consider the biographies of such men as well as their theories and their teachings.

Finally, modern systems of education are the outgrowth of the experiences of the past. They represent the results attained and indicate present educational conditions. Nothing can better summarize the total development reached, or better suggest lines of future progress than a comparative discussion of the leading school systems of the world. The last chapters of this book, therefore, are devoted to a study of the school systems of Germany, France, England, and America. These are typical, each being suggestive of certain phases of education, while one of them has largely influenced the education of several other countries. Each furnishes lessons valuable to the student of history. Although many practices in other countries may not be applicable to our conditions, the broad-minded, genuine patriot will not refuse to accept sound principles and good methods from whatever source derived.

It must not be forgotten that there is a vital distinction between Education and Schooling. Education takes into account all those forces which enter into the civilization and elevation of man, whether it be the home, the school, the state, the church, the influences of environment, or all these combined. It is a continuous process which begins at birth and ceases only at the end of life. By schooling we mean the educative process which is carried on during a limited period of the child's life under the guidance of teachers.

The school is a product of civilization. It became necessary because of the division of labor caused by the multiplication of the interests of mankind which made it impossible for the home to continue wholly to care for the training of its children. The history of education must not merely treat of the development of the school, but it must consider education in its broader meaning; that is, as a history of civilization. For this reason some of the great educators of the world who have not been school teachers, must receive consideration.

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