DURING the war years, it became increasingly clear that a new approach
to the educational problems of the world was more urgent than ever be-
fore and that Americans should reassess the strengths and weaknesses of
their own educational traditions. The author believes that a new study
of the history of culture and education is an important means to that
end. This book is designed principally for those who are preparing to
enter the educational profession and for those who have had experience
and wish to reevaluate their efforts in the light of a new interpretation
of education in history. It may also be of interest to many others who
are concerned with the future of American public education.

A Cultural History of Education is not confined to the instruction that
goes on in schools but tries to show the close relationship between society,
schools, and other educational agencies. It is based upon the belief that
education is affected by the dominating institutions and beliefs of a cul-
ture and that education in turn affects the culture. The term "culture"
is used here to refer to the whole matrix of political, economic, social,
and religious institutions as well as to the beliefs, ideas, and ideals that
guide a people in their private and public endeavors. The author's argu-
ment is that in order to reassess our present educational program we
must understand and reevaluate the cultural as well as the educational
traditions which make us what we are.

The aim in writing this book has not been so much to emphasize new
research in the history of education as to aid in the revitalizing of the
teaching of the history of education and improving the use of the his-
torical approach to educational problems. The attempt has been made
to interpret and bring together in one place for the benefit of educational
workers some of the outlooks and scholarship of the social sciences as
well as materials from philosophy, psychology, and educational writers
of various kinds. The book has grown out of the author's experience
during the last 15 years, principally at Teachers College, Columbia Uni-
versity, where he has had the opportunity not only to teach courses in
the history of education but also courses called the "Foundations of
Education."

Since the early 1930's growing numbers of educational workers at
Teachers College and elsewhere have come to the belief that a genuine
understanding of the role of education in society will be enhanced by
bringing to bear upon education in a unified way the results of the sepa-

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