The value of historical descriptive analysis in comparative education is highlighted by the method's application to schooling in Burma, demonstrating how control over schooling relates to state legitimacy. Supervision of Burmese education by Theravada Buddhist monasteries--Sangha--was undermined by 19th-century British colonial administration. The present autocratic military regime has forced the Sangha into a subordinate role in support of nationalist objectives. (Contains 87 references.) (SV)