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 princi