628 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



as related to the practical matter of teaching and learning. There is 

 even a closer relation between general history and the history of edu- 

 cation. This is seen in a moment if we consider again who is to re- 

 ceive the education. The ideas which man has entertained about him- 

 self have determined alike his history and his education. The profit- 

 able thing in considering our subject historically is exactly this detec- 

 tion of man's ideas of himself. We see these ideas shaped by varying 

 circumstances, and in turn shaping man's activity in every direction. 

 Education has had a wonderful unfolding and there is not a phase of 

 its course which may not be traced to that idea of man's nature and 

 destiny which prevailed at the time. 



This close relation between general history and the history of 

 education has led to the adoption of the same broad time-divisions in 

 both subjects, as follows : 



Before Christ. 



From Christ to the Reformation. 



From the Reformation to Pestalozzi. 



From Pestalozzi to the present. 



This division is the one chosen by all authorities in the history of 

 education, though special reference may here be made* to Schmidt's 

 " Geschichte der Padagogik," a work of remarkable philosophic value, 

 and one to which I am greatly indebted in the preparation of these 

 articles. 



Turning to the first division, we find that the nations having a 

 history and corresponding systems of education are the Chinese, the 

 Indians, the Persians, the Egyptians, the Hebrews, the Greeks, and 

 the Romans. Nothing can be more interesting and profitable than to 

 observe how directly and completely the education found among these 

 peoples was shaped by the ideas which they respectively entertained 

 about their own nature and destiny. 



We have frequently been asked to consider the peculiar appear- 

 ance which China presents in history. There is something here as sad 

 as it is peculiar. Centuries before the nations of to-day had emerged 

 from barbarism, China showed remarkable advancement in civilization. 

 We should not think here chiefly of the public works constructed by 

 this people, such as the wall of defense or the canal, or even of their 

 knowledge in special directions, such as the use of gunpowder or the 

 art of multiplying impressions from woodcuts, or the use of porcelain, 

 the compass, and the bell. The fact above all others to be noted is, 

 that in no country, without exception, has such direct and supreme 

 value been placed upon education as in China. The educated man 

 alone could hold office in this vast empire ; riches and birth were of 

 no avail if the man were uneducated. We may contrast this profit- 

 ably, so far as the idea is concerned, with our American suffrage sys- 

 tem, where the vote of bestial ignorance counts for more than that of 

 trained intelligence, and where the qualification for office is availa- 



