A text-book in the history of education

Front matter

Bookiil

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Preface

Professedly a text-book, this volume, while not pretending to be an exhaustive history of the subject, aims to give more than a superficial outline containing a summary of trite generalizations. The merits which the author has sought to incorporate are (i) to furnish a body of historical facts sufficient to give the student concrete material from which to form generalizations; (2) to suggest, chiefly by classification of this material, interpretations such as will not consist merely in unsupported generalizations; (3) to give, to some degree, a flavor of the original sources of information ; (4) to make evident the relation between educational development and other aspects of the history of civilization ; (5) to deal with educational tendencies rather than with men ; (6) to show the connection between educational theory and actual school work in its historical development ; (7) to suggest relations with present educational work.

Containing as it does three or four times the material incorporated in the text-books now in use in American schools, the extent of the work is justified in the opinion of the author by the greater interest to be aroused in the student by concrete material bearing upon school life and connecting it with more or less familiar historical situations, and by the broader basis which it will furnish the instructor for his work. This more extended treatment will require but little more effort upon the part of the student, while at the same time it will give him far greater insight into the meaning of educational viii Preface

theories and practices and their relation to the social life of

the times.

It is the belief of the author that the need of the student is to grasp great movements as they manifest themselves in thought and practice, and that a text-book which emphasizes these movements is more helpful than one which aims to give all the facts and which, in so doing, presents a multitude of men with diverse ideas and a multiplicity of phenomena with little basis of organization. Hence, to carry out his purpose, the author has selected only such men and such facts as have to do with typical movements, and which consequently influence present thought and life. Many men are slighted who in themselves are prominent enough, but who contribute little to a dominant movement or add but little to the ideas already presented. In giving the ideal of Roman education, the analysis of the training of the orator by Tacitus or Cicero, though quite as important as that of Quintilian, would have added little to the present discussion. So, too, there could have been added Protagoras, Seneca, a multitude of writers in the later Middle Ages, of the Renaissance, and of each modern period ; but they are omitted in the fixed belief that more is to be gained through very definite conceptions concerning a comparatively few leaders than through a mass of more or less unrelated detail concerning great numbers of those who from the particular point of view of the text are comparatively unimportant. In a similar way, through lack of space, many interesting illustrative quotations are abbreviated or eliminated altogether. It is, however, the design of the author later to supplement this text with a series of source books illustrating the development of educational thought and practices. The first of these, that for the Greek and Roman period, has already been published.

The needs of the student of the history of education are to acquire a sufficient body of fact concerning the educational

Preface ix

practices of the past ; to develop an ability to interpret that experience in order to guide his own practice ; to exercise his judgment in estimating the relation existing between various theories and corresponding practices ; and, above all, to obtain a conception of the meaning, nature, process, and purpose of education that will lift him above the narrow prejudices, the restricted outlo'ok, the foibles, and the pettytrials of the average schoolroom, and afford him the fundamentals of an everlasting faith as broad as human nature and as deep as the life of the race.

Under each general topic treated enough material is given to elucidate the main characteristic. For the same purpose the contributions of two or three of the most representative men are discussed. The restrictions of space and the working conception adopted by the author forbid further elaboration of material, especially that of a biographical character. Consequently the text at almost every point aims to be suggestive rather than exhaustively conclusive. This fact will be evident to all in the treatment of those topics that come within the hmits of recent experience. To the student familiar with the historical field this is no less evident in the earlier than in the later chapters.

It is not intended that answers to the lists of questions appended to each chapter should be worked up from this text.. They are suggestive of further work, of an intensive character, which may be done by the student with time and material at his disposal. Should the text itself furnish all the material that can well be used in the time allotment at the disposal of the class, these questions may be entirely disregarded.

So, too, the reference lists, which are limited wholly to the educational Hterature in Enghsh and that of the most accessible and helpful, are merely suggestive. For an exhaustive bibliography the student is referred to Professor Cubberley's

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excellent Syllabus of the History of Education, or for further suggestion not so elaborate to the pamphlet Syllabus prepared by the author to accompany this book.

For helpful criticisms on the manuscript I desire to express my obligation to Mr. Theodore C. Mitchill and to my colleague, Professor John A. MacVannel. I am indebted to Miss Izora Scott for the index.

PAUL MONROE.

New York, August, 1905.

Chapter I

PRIMITIVE EDUCATION. EDUCATION AS NON-PROGRESSIVE

ADJUSTMENT

PAGE

SIGNIFICANCE OF PRIMITIVE EDUCATION .... i DOMINANT CHARACTERISTICS OF PRIMITIVE LIFE — ANI- MISM 2

NATURE OF EDUCATION AMONG PRIMITIVE MAN DETER- MINED BY THIS DOMINANT SOCIAL CHARACTERISTIC 3 FORMATION OF MEANS FOR THE ATTAINMENT OF EDUCA- TIONAL ENDS 6

Practical education 6

Theoretical education 7

A teaching class ......... 8

Subj ect-matter for study ........ 9

A literary basis ......... 10

METHOD OF PRIMITIVE EDUCATION ...... 10

TRANSITION TO A HIGHER STAGE OF EDUCATIONAL PRO- CESS , 13

Chapter II

ORIENTAL EDUCATION. EDUCATION AS RECAPITULATION: CHINA AS A TYPE

CONCEPTION OF EDUCATION HELD BY THE CHINESE . . 17

Relation between social life and education 18

Confucianism the basis of education 19

Selections from Confucian text 20

The family, the basal institution . 23

DURATION, EXTENT, AND MODIFICATION OF THE CHINESE

CONTENT, METHOD, AND ORGANIZATION OF CHINESE EDU- CATION 26

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Content 26

Character of the language . , .26

The literature .......... 27

Stages of schooling ......... 28

Content of elementary schools ....... 28

The art of tvriting . . . . . . . , . 30

Content of higher education . . . . . . . 31

The school system 32

The examination system 34

Method of Chinese education 39

Results of Chinese education 41

CHINESE EDUCATION AS A TYPE OF ORIENTAL EDUCATION 46