Toward a New Direction in Educational History: Prospect and Retrospect

Abstract

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

The (Anti-)Ideological Origins of Bernard Bailyn's Education in the Forming of American Society

“…… And this advice is profoundly right." 58 Bailyn's argument won the day because it aligned perfectly with the anti-ideological context of postwar consensus liberalism. Like the critics of progressive education, Bailyn looked to academic disciplines to save the schools from what they considered to be the naïve, ideologically driven, and closed-minded approach of progressives and totalitarians.…”

Institutionalization and Education in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

“…In other words, it has become a singularly complex, broadly conceived effort much like the effort Bailyn was urging us to think of. But, up to this par ticular point I think we are committing Bailyn's error also, if we can believe Laurence Veysey's essay (15) which acknowledged that Bailyn called attention to the complexity of institutionalization, where it reached, but never told us what we had to do to study it. And so, the second stage of this particular sequence we are going to try to do something about that and look at some of the problems of interpretation.…”

New Perspectives in the History of American Education 1960–1970

“…This would serve, as he rightly points out, to bring into sharper focus 'the myriad competing groups, factions, and individuals who in fact form the stuff of any society'. 52 Nevertheless, it is clear that the history of American education is coming of age. There are even the beginnings of historiographical debate within the fraternity.…”