In this article, the author talks about the proper place of theory in educational history and shares his comments on the essays by Eileen Tamura, Carolyn Eick, and Roland Coloma. Eileen Tamura's positing of most educational historians as practitioners of narrative history is surely on the mark. She invites historians of education to investigate…

They sat in the Cubberley Education Lecture Hall to hear visiting experts. More often they could be found meeting in reduced-size classes, or working on small-group activities. They usually took notes; sometimes they took field trips. They memorized lists and sat for exams, but they also watched films and acted out scenarios. Rather than take…

The world of private fundamentalist education grew prodigiously throughout the late 1970s and into the early 1980s. These schools needed curricular materials and guiding educational philosophies. The impassioned debates among leading fundamentalist educators directly affected the education of hundreds of thousands of students. Concern over the…

Of the classic documents addressing issues in higher education, few have provoked as much commentary as the Yale Report of 1828--and perhaps fewer still have been subject to such undeserved infamy. Today, the document requires a thorough new reading. Since the late 1960s historians of higher education have been trying to overturn the traditional…

In the 1890s progressive educators like John Dewey proposed expansive ideas about integrating school and society. Working to make the boundaries between classroom learning and pupils' natural environment more permeable, for example, Dewey urged teachers to connect intellectual and practical elements within their curricula. Highly visible and…

The title of this essay, comes from the Sherlock Holmes mystery entitled "Silver Blaze," which refers the "curious incident" as to the absence of an expected reaction. In this article, the author discusses an essay that will examine such an absent reaction, or at least a muted one: the limited impact of early intelligence testing on European…

Considers the student behavioral problems that afflicted colleges in the Early Republic and the solutions college authorities ultimately enforced. Highlights the struggles to combat student disorder at the University of Pennsylvania, in particular the role of Provost Frederic Beasley, and focuses on the growth of meritocracy. (CMK)

Addresses "the retardation problem," over-aged students retained in a grade because of failure to make "normal" annual progress. Concentrates on how influences in the 1940s in South Australia refocused attentions on over-aged students changing the substance of educational debate regarding their classroom presence and the statistical…

Contrasts the rhetoric and implementation of common schools (tax-supported, free public education) in 19th-century Boston with some subsequent educational discrimination. The Boston Public School system established intermediate schools and ungraded classes as a means of instructing illiterate immigrant children. It rapidly became a system of…

Traces the changes in educational philosophy and practices that occurred within England's civic universities. The original intent of the state supported public universities was to provide professional and technical training for the growing middle class. Discusses the reasons that the civics eventually adopted the curriculum of the elite private…

Presents an account of political and religious influences affecting the French secondary school, Louis Le Grand, during the eighteenth century. Shows how the development of a major institution of education can be related to historical events and pressures. (DB)

Presents a case study of a village in highland South America to show how different segments of a society view literacy education. Topics discussed include collapse of traditional society as a result of education, values, changing economic and social conditions, the school role in creating an active citizenry, and school drop-out rates. (Author/DB)

The author reviews the role of the teacher in the history of education by examining recent philosophical, sociological, and autobiographical publications about teachers. (DE)

In the mid-1920s, a virulent renewal of the age-old German dispute regarding what form German schools should take resulted in a political crisis. Worsened Catholic-liberal relations contributed to a split in the bourgeois middle, making political cooperation more difficult and hindering a moderate evolution of the Weimar state. (RM)

Elementary, secondary, and higher education enrollment data for Scotland between the 1860s and 1939 are examined, and the structure and development of the Scottish system in the light of some of the general theories of comparative social history of education are discussed. (RM)