BERNARD BAILYN's famous attempt of a decade ago to redefine the scope of educational history has rightly been much applauded ever since, but it has not been subjected to enough careful scrutiny. Bailyn was appalled by what he perceived to be the narrow char acter of educational history as it had long been written by men lacking in historical vision or imagination. To counter such nar rowness, he proposed, in a widely quoted dictum, that one think of education "not only as formal pedagogy but as the entire process by which a culture transmits itself across the generations," and that one see education "in its elaborate, intricate involvements with the rest of society," noting "its shifting functions, meanings, and pur poses." (1) When Bailyn's dictum was uttered, it sent an enormous gust of fresh air across this particular corner of the scholarly landscape. It lent encouragement to researchers who were anxious to integrate the study of educational history with all that seemed vital in the social sciences. It gave important leverage to younger, more ad venturous spirits who were struggling, presumably, against somno lent establishments in departments of education throughout the United States. Bailyn's words seemed to carry the promise that what had hitherto been considered one of the most arid fields of inquiry might suddenly be transformed into one of the freshest and most exciting. In creating this impression, perhaps more important than anything Bailyn said was the very fact that he had taken the trouble to say it-that is, a distinguished historian had chosen bold
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