Throughout history societies have sought to educate their people to produce goods and services, to respond effectively and creatively to their world, and to satisfy their curiosity and aesthetic impulses. To achieve any of these objectives people need to acquire reliable knowledge and to think systematically. This article discusses education in the general sense, its history and philosophy. Information on specific kinds of education and education in particular parts of the world is provided in numerous separate articles; see, for example, \Tadult education\t, \TAfrican universities\t, \TBritish education\t. HISTORY OF EDUCATION Over the course of human history education has appeared in many forms, both formalized and informal. Major thinkers have always recognized the educational value of intellectual exploration and of concrete experimentation. Most societies have attempted to standardize the behavior of their members. One form of education that they have used is the rituals by which the young are initiated into adulthood. Most societies have also had apprenticeship systems by which the young have learned to imitate the beliefs and behaviors of a given group. Teachers have worked within schools of thought, cults, monasteries, and other types of organizations to shape desired convictions, knowledge, and behavior. Such philosophical and religious leaders as the Buddha, Confucius, Pythagoras, Jesus Christ, Saint Augustine, Moses, Muhammad, and Karl Marx instructed their disciples through informal organizations. Ancient Education Near East. The nature of education in Egypt and Sumer as early as the early 3d millennium BC is known from archaeological evidence. Various young people were selected to serve as priests, clerics, builders, and political rulers. They were taught writing, mathematics, astronomy, architecture, and government in temple schools by priests, who also controlled education. Hebrew education centered on the study of the \TTorah\t and the adherence to its teachings and principles. The Bible and other documents such as the Dead Sea Scrolls have provided much information about education in ancient Palestine. One Jewish caste, the Levites, at an early time became temple servants and teachers of the laws. Scholars known as scribes and later as rabbis taught the Jews in the synagogues, although a major responsibility for the education of children fell on parents. China and India. In ancient China cultural leadership centered around the courts of the various kingdoms. Chinese historians have traditionally reported about the Hundred Schools of thought that emerged from these courts about 1000 BC. Up to about 600 BC, formal education was available only to rulers and nobles; after that time, it became more widespread among officials and members of the wealthier classes. By 400 BC education, largely conducted in private homes, had been shaped for the most part by four schools of thought: Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, and Legalism. Accompanying the ascendancy of \TConfucianism\t during the Han dynasty (202 BC-AD 220) was a strong surge of interest in education and intellectual pursuits. In AD 124 a Grand College was set up to train candidates for civil service; they were selected by a rigorous examination system that prevailed in China into the 20th century. \TBuddhism\t and \TTaoism\t have also been important educational forces throughout Chinese history. The older societies of India were largely conquered by Aryan groups between 2000 and 1500 BC. The Aryans developed the \TVedas\t, a body of scripture that divided society into castes. Under the caste system, which became a vital part of \THinduism\t, social function was inherited; one was obliged not only to learn certain things, by formal instruction and apprenticeship, but, by the moral code, not to learn others. One member of the warrior caste, Prince Siddhartha Gautama (c.560-480 BC), sought a spiritual life and developed the precepts that became known as Buddhism. By the 3d century BC his disciples, living as monks, exerted great influence across all of India. Between the 1st and 7th centuries AD Buddhism became a major religious and educational force in Tibet, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Greece and Rome. In ancient Greece societal values were transmitted in various ways. The epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey described the idealized behavior of people who were destined to conquer and to rule. Schools of thought were established by such teachers as \TThales of Miletus\t, who is known as the first Western philosopher; \TPythagoras of Samos\t, who established a religiously oriented cult; and the statesman \TSolon\t, who emphasized political science and economics. In the Greek city-state of \TSparta\t state institutions trained boys almost exclusively in the military arts. Any academic learning was provided by private tutors. In other Greek city-states boys received a general education before beginning military training. The Athenians in particular strove to educate the complete individual. Parents employed teachers in a variety of subjects including reading, writing, poetry, gymnastics, mathematics, philosophy, and science. In 5th-century Athens the Sophists, teachers who took fees for their lessons, filled an educational gap. \TProtagoras\t, who taught mathematics, politics, ethics, and metaphysics, was a philosopher and a rhetorician. He and other Sophists taught rhetoric, an important subject for aspiring statesmen. The great Athenian philosopher \TSocrates\t went one step beyond the Sophists: he engaged his students in dialogues during the course of teaching them ethics and politics, and he asked no fees. The Academy, established by Socrates' disciple \TPlato\t about 387 BC, might be considered among the first universities, if one defines a \Tuniversity\t as a place where scholars conduct rigorous research with their students. Another university of this type was the Lyceum, founded by \TAristotle\t in 335 BC. The philosophies of Plato and Aristotle dominated educational thought for many centuries and continue to exert an influence on education today. Many Roman leaders sought education in Greece or, after the middle of the 3d century BC, in Roman schools that were modeled after Greek schools. Rome also produced teachers of engineering, architecture, and law. In ancient Rome boys were given a general education that included the study of literature, linguistics, astronomy, geometry, music, logic, history, and philosophy; girls received only an elementary education. The impact of Greek and Roman education was strong and long lasting in Western culture. In medicine, a research-oriented school was led by \THippocrates\t at Cos. He was followed much later by the Roman physician \TGalen\t. For many centuries the medical science of Hippocrates and Galen was the most advanced in the West. The rhetorical school of \TIsocrates\t became a model for such Romans as \TQuintilian\t and has long influenced the study of humanities. Education among the early Christians was both religious and secular. Christians received the same classical secular instruction as did the Greeks and Romans among whom they lived. Early Christianity developed theologies closely related to classical philosophies and pagan religions. Medieval Education, 600 to 1400 After the fall of Rome in AD 476, the Eastern Roman Empire continued to thrive as an intellectual and educational center. In 313, Emperor Constantine had declared Christianity to be the official religion of the empire and had established (330) Constantinople, formerly Byzantium, as the empire's capital. Classical Greek and Latin literary, philosophical, and scientific texts and traditions were preserved there, and the teaching of these subjects was the basis of education until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Prominent among early Byzantine educators was Martianus Capella, whose book De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii (mid-5th century) categorized knowledge into two areas, the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, and music), which are still considered the "seven liberal arts." Today's legal scholars still study the Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law, 529-35), Emperor \TJustinian\t's codification of Roman law. Western Europe. During the Dark Ages, which extended from the fall of Rome to the beginning of the Carolingian revival (c.770), education nearly came to a standstill in western Europe. What formal education there was was religious in nature and was provided by monasteries, mainly in Ireland and northern England. \TCharlemagne\t, though, supported education in the hope of forming one great Christian empire of all the Germanic peoples. He invited (c.781) \TAlcuin\t, principal of the great cathedral school at York, England, to set up a palace school at Aachen. Alcuin's palace school became the model for other centers of learning in Charlemagne's empire. In early medieval Europe a nobility skilled in warfare controlled some aspects of education. Under the system of \Tchivalry\t, which reached its zenith by the 13th century, a young man would serve as a page and then as a squire before he could become a knight. He would read such literature as the \Tchansons de geste\t and the legends of King Arthur in order to learn morality and courtly virtues. In western Europe, however, most formal education at this time was provided by the church. The basic tenets of Christianity were taught in catechetical schools, which flourished for the first eight centuries AD. Further education was provided in monasteries, many of which followed the rules set forth by Saint \TBenedict\t at Monte Cassino in the 6th century. Cathedrals also maintained schools to educate priests and leaders in politics and economics. The curriculum in these schools was based on the trivium and the quadrivium. From the beginning of the Christian era many people learned medicine through apprenticeship, although a major formal school of medicine existed at Constantinople. At Salerno, Italy, a medical school developed probably as early as the 11th century. Montpellier, Paris, and Padua also became centers of medical education. The university at Bologna influenced the curriculum and direction of universities in Italy and in southern Europe. Education in Italy was not controlled by the church, although there were church schools and clerical teachers. In Italy the study of classical literature and texts prevailed over religious studies. Thus the development of law and medical schools in the 11th century at Bologna and Parma was facilitated. Important scholars of the time were Irnerius (c.1055-c.1130), a great civil-law scholar, and \TGratian\t, who taught canon law. Italian students were well organized and participated in managing the universities. In France and northern Europe, the dominant influence on university development came from Paris, where large communities of scholars developed in the cathedral schools and in monastic orders. One of the most distinguished members of these communities was Peter \TAbelard\t, who taught at the cathedral school of Notre Dame, out of which the University of Paris emerged in the 12th century. The celebrated \TSorbonne\t was founded in the next century at Paris, which became a great center for education, especially in theology. The Dominican scholar Saint Thomas \TAquinas\t taught there. He developed a perception of Aristotle's philosophy that was consistent with Christianity. This synthesis has since been dominant in Roman Catholic philosophy and has been critically important to major subsequent European philosophies of education. The universities at Oxford and Cambridge developed in a manner quite like the one at Paris. Indeed, some of the original students and faculty members at Oxford branched off from Paris, and those of Cambridge came from Oxford. The Rise of Islam. In the early 7th century Muhammad founded a new religion, \TIslam\t, which by the middle of the next century extended from the Near East to India and Spain. In some Islamic schools reading, writing, and mathematics were taught; some added courses for social improvement, and some offered only discussion and debate. Research centers and universities established at Baghdad, Cairo, Alexandria, Cordoba, and other cities flourished. Muslim education included the study of the \TKoran\t as well as such secular fields as engineering, medicine, astronomy, architecture, and geography. Muslim scholars encouraged visits from foreign scholars and translated foreign classics into Arabic. They also translated their own scientific treatises into Latin, making such knowledge available to Western scholars. Advances in education arose from the interchange of ideas in the Muslim world. The Muslim mathematician al-Khwarizmi (d. c.835) greatly advanced the science of mathematics by introducing a numeral system that had first been developed in India and that would later be known as the Arabic number system. The Muslim medical scientists al-Razi (AD 865-925) and Ibn Sina (\TAvicenna\t) advanced the thought of Galen. Like the Jewish scholar \TMaimonides\t, the Muslim Ibn Rushd (\TAverroes\t) studied the relationships between Aristotle and the new religions, Christianity and Islam. For many generations Jewish and Christian scholars worked alongside Islamic scholars in Baghdad and in Spain. Early Modern Period, 1400 to 1800 With the development (c.1436) of movable type, it became possible to publish books in large quantities and to disseminate knowledge more quickly and widely. Other changes were also afoot in Europe that were to have a strong impact on education. The Renaissance and Reformation in Europe. The \TRenaissance\t of humanistic literature developed most strongly and noticeably in Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries, with \TPetrarch\t and, in the Netherlands, with Desiderius \TErasmus\t as major representatives. Essays such as Nicolo \TMachiavelli\t's The Prince, Baldassare \TCastiglione\t's The Courtier (1516), and Erasmus's The Education of a Christian Prince (1516), plus the writings of Francois \TRabelais\t and Michel de \TMontaigne\t, urged new patterns of education. Humanistic schools for the aristocracy were founded in Italy, France, and England at this time. In Germany, the \TGymnasium\t was set up. Some schools were also established for children of nonaristocratic families. The Protestant \TReformation\t, led by Martin \TLuther\t and John \TCalvin\t, occurred in the 16th century. Both believed that it was important for all Christians to read the Bible. They urged the state to help establish an educational system. Followers of Calvin sought to maintain primary schools so that everyone could learn to read. Luther's friend Philipp \TMelanchthon\t was influential in advocating new national patterns of schooling. At this time a reformation (usually called the \TCounter-Reformation\t) was also taking place within Roman Catholicism. One of its leaders was \TIgnatius Loyola\t, who started the Society of Jesus in 1534. The Jesuits established schools and colleges throughout Europe. In the 17th century \TJohn Baptist de La Salle\t established the Christian Brothers, who maintained an extensive system of Catholic schools for the poor. At Reims, they established a teacher-training institution. Seventeenth Century. During the 17th century several theorists emerged who were to exert a continuing influence on education. Among them were Francis \Tbacon\t, John Amos \TComenius\t, and John \TLocke\t. Bacon greatly encouraged the scientific revolution of that time and helped convince many educators that the advancement of knowledge was beneficial to human society in general. Comenius created an encyclopedic view of what kind of knowledge is most important and talked about the relationships between the physiological senses and patterns of thought. Locke believed that each person gains knowledge of the world largely through experience, association, and sense perception, and not merely by the memorization of facts and principles. The discoveries of such scientists as Nicolaus \TCopernicus\t, \TGalileo\t, William \THarvey\t, Johannes \TKepler\t, and Isaac \TNewton\t influenced the teaching of the various sciences. Little science was taught in schools or even in universities prior to 1700. Curricula usually consisted of writing, reading, grammar, history, mathematics, music, and religion. After 1700, however, advanced scientific and mathematical knowledge came to be taught in many schools and universities. The Spread of Western Culture. In the British colonies in North America, the curricula of the earliest schools centered on religion. In 1642 the colony of Massachusetts passed a statute requiring that children be taught to read, a skill necessary to the understanding of the Bible. In 1647 a statute was passed stating that every community must establish a primary school and that larger communities must also maintain a secondary school. The earliest colleges founded in British North America were Harvard (1636), William and Mary (1693), and Yale (1701). Early American collegians studied grammar, logic, rhetoric, ethics, geometry, arithmetic, ancient history, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. In Latin America, Spanish missionaries founded elementary schools for Indians in the 16th century. A few secondary schools were provided for children of Indian nobles and for Spaniards. The earliest universities, in Mexico (1551), Peru (1551), Colombia (1573), Argentina (1613), Bolivia (1624), and Guatemala (1676), were founded by the respective royal governments and also received the required papal decrees. The 18th Century. Some of the rudiments of national educational systems began to develop in the 18th century. In France, Jean Jacques \TRousseau\t advocated letting children grow and develop naturally--in direct opposition to the prevailing methods of teaching. Rousseau's beliefs, set down in Emile (1762), inspired those who later sought universal education that was free of church control. During the Napoleonic Wars the Germans began to seek material that emphasized the distinctive elements of German culture. Among those involved in this nationalistic movement was Johann Gottlieb \TFichte\t, who advocated comprehensive education of both boys and girls by means of strict moral training and encouragement of independent thought. Wilhelm von \THumboldt\t, a philologist, stressed that university students and teachers should be free to profess any religion without fear of reprisal and to pursue a humanist education to develop themselves and not merely to serve the state. In 18th-century England, Andrew \Tbell\t and Joseph \TLancaster\t helped bring an elementary school system into being. Bell developed a systematic monitorial system, which Lancaster modified, whereby children taught other children in the classroom. This system did not encourage creative education, however, because the students participating in this form of mass education were taught only to memorize the information given them. Nineteenth-Century Education During the 19th century various national school systems began to assume their modern form. New theories of education had widespread impact. Western Europe. Perhaps the most influential 19th-century educator was Johann \TPestalozzi\t of Switzerland, whose theories of education influenced modern elementary education. He wrote that education should develop intellectual and physical powers to produce a complete and fully integrated personality. Another influential educator was Friedrich \TFroebel\t, who founded the kindergarten movement in Germany. Johann Friedrich \THerbart\t, who established pedagogy as a science, saw education as being ideally a process of integrating a student's interest and social experience with the subjects to be learned. At the beginning of the 19th century there was no unified system of primary and secondary education in Great Britain. Although schools formed by philanthropists and volunteers were common, they offered only a basic education. Public (that is, independent) schools such as Eton, Harrow, and Winchester provided a classical education, but only to those who could afford to pay tuition. The passage of the Elementary Education Act (1870) provided for voluntary schools throughout Great Britain, vested educational authority at a local level, and guaranteed that children would not receive religious instruction against their parents' wishes. Education became mandatory in Great Britain a decade later. No new universities emerged in Great Britain from the founding (1583) of the University of Edinburgh, which had joined only 5 older ones, until the middle of the 19th century, when civic universities were established at public expense in the developing industrial areas. Many teachers' colleges and technical schools had been founded by the end of the 19th century. In France a law was passed in 1833 requiring the communes to provide elementary schools. Secondary education consisted at that time of languages, literature, history, geography, art, music, sciences, and mathematics. Girls received a modified version of boys' education in the secondary schools that were established for them in 1880. During the middle of the 19th century France set up 16 educational administrative units, each of which was governed by a university, which was to provide secondary and higher education for its area. Germany sought universal literacy and to achieve this end provided free and compulsory primary education. The schools also taught religion. There were three types of secondary education in Germany: classical, taken at a gymnasium; semiclassical, with less emphasis on ancient studies; and one emphasizing sciences. German universities such as those founded at Berlin (1809), Bonn (1786), and Munich (1826; originally founded in 1471) were pioneers in changing and expanding their curricula to keep abreast of advances in science. Research and teaching were skillfully and successfully combined and these universities set a new world standard. The United States. Primary and secondary education in the United States, always administered on the local level, varied greatly from state to state. Throughout New England the common school--forerunner of the public school--offered free primary education to all children. The Americans placed a high value on public education. The Land Ordinance, passed by Congress in 1785, set aside a section of public land that potential new states could use for the support of public schools. The extensive expansion of public education through the establishment of a state board of education began in Massachusetts in 1837, largely through the efforts of Horace \TMann\t. Henry \TBarnard\t championed public schools in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Other states soon followed suit. The idea of the public high school did not take hold until the 1870s, although one opened in Boston in 1821 and was followed by several in other cities. Throughout the 19th century, however, secondary education was available at private academies, which charged tuition. Colleges and universities, which had grown in number by the end of the century, offered courses in the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and law. The oldest colleges no longer required heavy concentrations in theological studies. In 1862 the Federal government passed the \TMorrill Act\t, which set aside public land to support new state universities specializing in the agricultural and mechanical sciences--the land-grant colleges. In Europe and in the United States, new discoveries by such scientists as Andre \TAmpere\t, Charles \TDarwin\t, Michael \TFaraday\t, and Louis \TPasteur\t were taught in schools and colleges. More sophisticated methods for conducting theoretical and experimental inquiry were developed. The works of social scientists and economists such as Thomas \TMalthus\t, Karl \TMarx\t, David \TRicardo\t, and Adam \TSmith\t were studied. Elsewhere in the World. The European nations that had colonies in Africa--Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, and Italy--set up elementary, secondary, and, later, higher education systems based on those at home. The intention was to provide the colonies with clerks, teachers, doctors, nurses, and so forth. Some colonial subjects were able to receive a secondary and university education in Europe. When all of India came under British rule in 1857-58, primary and secondary education became more widespread there, and universities were established (1857) in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras. Although many Indian leaders were educated in England, some advocated a system of education that would preserve Indian culture. Several colleges were founded for this purpose in the last quarter of the 19th century--for example, the Anglo-Mohammedan Oriental College (1875) in Aligarh. Education in the 20th Century In the 20th century major advances in education occurred throughout the world. School and college curricula have kept students abreast of developments in science and technology. Modifications of the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Rousseau, and others, plus new philosophies (including the tenets of Marx, Mao Tse-tung, and Gandhi) and new systems of psychology as put forth by Ivan \TPavlov\t, G. Stanley \THall\t, Sigmund \TFreud\t, Carl \TJung\t, Edward \TThorndike\t, B. F. \TSkinner\t, and Jean \TPiaget\t, influenced new educational ideals. New systems--such as John \TDewey\t's and William \TJames\t's--that were to influence whole nations were developed. The idea of education for all became a rallying point for many social and political leaders--especially those of emerging nations, where widespread illiteracy often prevailed. During the second half of the 20th century, the majority of the world's nations had committed themselves to providing education for all children. The United States. During the early 20th century, American education greatly benefited from the reforms of the 19th century. Kindergartens were first set up in the second half of the 19th century, and school curricula were changed to enable children to be educated as individuals. Vocational schools taught skills that would enable graduates to compete effectively for jobs. In recent years the number of junior and community colleges has grown. They have educated students who would be unable to attend more traditional 4-year colleges and have enabled adults to pursue studies, interests, or careers with no view toward a higher academic degrees. Other Countries. During the early 20th century, Western European countries experimented with various systems of primary and secondary education before they made any real progress toward providing education on those levels for all children. After World War II politicians and educators renewed efforts to provide high-quality secondary education for all. The secondary schools of Great Britain, France, Germany, and other European countries give all children a general academic education. The proliferation of colleges, universities, and special institutes has made the higher levels of education available to more people. Social reforms in mid-19th-century Russia enabled children from all classes to attend school. Later in the century, there was a reaction to widespread education, with the result that by the time of the 1917 revolution, more than one-half of the Russian people were illiterate. After the Revolution communist educators viewed the establishment of free and compulsory education, plus expansion of professional and higher education, as methods of enhancing life and training the workers needed to meet the \TUSSR\t's goals in science, agriculture, and industry. At the turn of the century, China abolished the traditional examination system and set up a school system. In recent years education has been made available to more people and illiteracy has decreased. The main thrust of education in modern China has been to provide people with the skills needed to meet the economic needs of the country and the idealistic goals of Chinese Communism. Education in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century was compulsory for 4 years; after World War II it became compulsory for 9 years. Universities emerged from missionary schools or were set up by the government. Japan provides higher education in all fields, although admission to universities is based on the results of rigorous examinations. In all countries education systems change in response to each society's economic, political, and social needs and ambitions. Developing countries are currently concentrating on eradicating illiteracy and on providing the economic and technological training they need. MERLE L. BORROWMAN PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION The philosophy of education is a field of applied inquiry in which the method is philosophical and the subjects of inquiry are educational. Inherent in the philosophical method is an attempt to think, speak, and write precisely and thoroughly. The philosophy of education seeks to make people more conscious of important issues in education and to help them evaluate arguments. Some philosophers of education believe that their field should have no application or subject matter beyond that described above. Analytical philosophers, for example, maintain that the task of the philosophy of education is solely to try to study and explain approaches to education and educational issues. The field does, however, include broader areas of study such as historical writings on education by important philosophers. No clear separation can be made between the philosophy of education and the history of education. Many philosophers of education argue that educational philosophy must lead to the improvement of educational decisions, policies, values, and methods if it is not to be merely an intellectual exercise. The philosophy of education is particularly concerned with the relationship between educational theory and practice--how theory is applied and tested in practice and how practice improves theory. Many philosophers of education are interested in ways in which philosophy and other fields of study can be combined to more clearly elucidate educational problems. The term education has had a variety of definitions. The traditional view of education is expressed in the formal instructional activities conducted in schools and universities. A better definition is that education is a lifelong process that includes both formal instruction and the broad range of other experiences, including television viewing, peer relationships, and family living, that usually occupy more time and often exert more powerful influences than does formal schooling. Education can be viewed as a product, a process, or both. Philosophers of education who focus on education as a product--the result of teaching and learning activities--look particularly at such factors as goals, aims, competence, effective teaching, and standards. Those who view education as a process are concerned primarily with the quality of the learner's experience, the nature of methodologies, and the relationships between teachers and students and among students. To some extent, conservative philosophers of education see education mainly as a product; progressive philosophers of education tend to see it mainly as a process. Others argue that product and process are inseparable. Philosophers of education have offered diverse theories of human nature that carry implications for educational purpose, policy, and practice. Four widely influential theories are outlined below. Platonic Idealism Plato considered reality to lie in ideal Forms that constitute the essential nature of the transient, physical objects that most people identify as reality. The purpose of education, he asserted, should be to attempt to perceive and understand these ideal Forms, even though only a few people might be able to achieve such understanding. According to Plato, people can be divided into categories according to their ability to pursue education successfully. In the Republic and the Laws Plato outlined his hierarchical model, a system in which those who were the most able would receive the most education and become the rulers or guardians of society. Those with less talent for intellectual training would become warriors. Those with the least capacity would receive the least schooling and would become the workers. Since Plato's time most educational systems in the West have emulated his model. Schooling has been predominantly abstract and intellectual. Many students find difficulty in relating such subject matter to their notion of the real world. Those least adept at this process leave the educational system. The dropouts often go on to occupy the lowest positions in the economic hierarchy. Hierarchical, selective, and segregated educational systems reflect and serve to perpetuate the societies of which they are an essential part. Marxism Karl Marx saw human nature as being ideally suited for unalienated living and collaborative work, but he saw people as exploited, oppressed, and dehumanized by capitalism. He envisioned a genuine community and unalienating work and education, to be made manifest by a proletarian revolution leading to communism. Under communism the conflict between individual freedom and social authority would disappear, for the interests of the individual would become identical to those of the group. Marx's ideal was the accountable communal person, one who attains freedom through social relationships rather than by escaping from them. Behaviorism By scientifically studying human behavior, social scientists have made some inferences about human nature that have had important consequences for educational practice. Psychologists have been able to exercise significant control over some human behavior in experimental situations and to predict accurately what people will do in response to certain stimuli. B. F. Skinner, the principal proponent of \Tbehaviorism\t, rejects the view that human beings are free agents. He argues that all people are controlled, and it is merely a question of who is to do the controlling. The scientist, Skinner notes, may be better qualified to exercise this control than are the agents of business, politics, and religion. From the behaviorist viewpoint, it is irresponsible not to try to control human behavior through science and education. Existentialist Humanism In the 20th century a reaction arose against the scientific view of human nature and the scientific view of human beings as objects to be observed, classified, predicted, and controlled. Notable contributors to this reaction have been existential humanists. Martin \TBuber\t, Martin \THeidegger\t, Gabriel \TMarcel\t, Jean Paul \TSartre\t, and others have fostered the notion of an autonomous self and brought such concepts as freedom, responsibility, authenticity, and choice into the center of the educational dialogue. Buber emphasized the uniqueness of each person and the idea that most education takes place through dialogue. Education and the Nature of Knowledge Philosophers of education often differ in their views on the nature of knowledge. Everyone agrees that assimilating knowledge is one of the main functions of education; there is, however, no agreement on what constitutes "knowledge." Some philosophers of education distinguish between "knowing that" and "knowing how." "Knowing that" stresses the product--acquired information the learner is expected to reproduce when the educational program terminates. "Knowing how" stresses the process--acquired techniques the learner can apply to future learning situations. Conservative educators regard knowledge as fixed and immutable. The teacher is regarded as the one who knows and the student as the one who needs to know but does not. The teacher needs to acquire techniques for motivating students to learn material in which they have little or no interest. Progressive educators regard knowledge as something that is mutable and can be created. In the United States, progressive education has been based primarily on the philosophy of pragmatism, originated by Charles Sanders \TPeirce\t and elaborated by William James and John Dewey. Dewey developed a view of knowledge that became central to the progressive-education movement. He regarded the student's interests as the beginning point of the educational process. Subject matter should not be drawn by the teacher from traditional academic disciplines but should consist of activities that enable students to reflect on their own experiences. The humanistic educator views the individual as the most important source of knowledge. Each person is his or her own best authority, especially about his or her perceptions, reactions, emotions, and experiences. This personal knowledge, however, must be checked and verified against other criteria, including the perceptions of others and the legacy of the past. A characteristic method of building, creating, and communicating knowledge is through dialogue, which suggests equality among the participants rather than conventional teacher-student, superior-inferior roles. Education and the Nature of Society The philosophy of education is concerned with ideas about the nature of society and the impact of these ideas on education. The conservative view sees society as a structure that sustains individual life, represents traditional knowledge and values, and passes these things on to the young. The primary purpose of education from this point of view is to serve the needs of society. In agricultural and craft societies the emphasis is on imitation and apprenticeship. Children and young people learn by watching and imitating their elders, usually in informal or work settings. They often learn by the trial-and-error method--a fairly effective way to pass on the accumulated skills and knowledge of a society. In industrialized countries, education is more formal and is carried on in schools. The function of the school, from a conservative viewpoint, is to produce literate, obedient, efficient, and contented workers. Such educational ideals are not generally effective in developing creativity or leading to social innovation. The progressive view sees society as a structure whose meaning and purpose are found in the quality of the lives of the individuals who constitute it. The primary purpose of education, from this perspective, is to serve the needs of the individual. The spectrum of this viewpoint ranges from the neoromanticism of extreme individualists, such as John Holt and Edgar Friedenberg, and "deschoolers," such as Ivan \TIllich\t, to the more moderate individualism of progressive schools. Humanistic educators see society as changing according to the contributions made by its members. Humanistic educational programs emphasize the development of creativity, divergent thinking, critical evaluation, and the skills needed to initiate change. Because humanistic educators view the student primarily as an individual rather than as a member of a national group, they tend to identify society as the world and take a humanistic-ecological approach to caring for and nurturing the world's resources. Paul Nash Bibliography: THE \TUnited States\t: Bailyn, Bernard, Education in the Forming of American Society (1960); Cremin, Lawrence A., American Education: The Colonial Experience: 1607-1783 (1970), American Education: The National Experience, 1783-1896 (1980), American Education: The Metropolitan Experience, 1876-1980 (1988). Karier, Clarence J., The Individual, Society and Education: A History of American Educational Ideas, 2d ed. (1986). Nasaw, David, Schooled to Order: A Social History of Public Schooling in the United States (1979); \TEurope\t: Beck, Carlton E., ed., Perspectives on World Education (1970); Boyd, William, and King, Edmund J., The History of Western Education, 11th ed. (1980): Brickman, William W., Educational Roots and Routes in Western Europe (1986); Burridge, Trevor D., What Happened in Education: An Introduction to Western Educational History (1970); Mallison, V., The Western European Idea in Education (1980); Maynes, Mary J., Schooling in Western Europe: A Social History (1985); Muller, Detlef, et al., eds. The Rise of the Modern Educational System (1989); Poignant, Raymond, Education and Development in Western Europe, the United States, and the Soviet Union: A Comparative Study (1965; Eng. trans., 1969); Ulich, Robert, The Education of Nations: A Comparison in Historical Perspective (1961; rev. ed., 1967). Ancient Greece and Rome: Bonner, Stanley F., ed., Education in Ancient Rome: From the Elder Cato to the Younger Pliny (1977); Hibler, Richard W., Life and Learning in Ancient Athens (1988); Jaeger, Werner, Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture, 3 vols. (1939-45; repr. 1986); Marrou, H.I., History of Education in Antiquity (1982). Medieval Period: Parry, Albert W., Education in England in the Middle Ages (1920; repr. 1975); Riche, Pierre, Education and Culture in the Barbarian West: Sixth to Eighth Centuries, trans. by John J. Contreni (1976). Renaissance through the 18th Century: Charlton, Kenneth, Education in Renaissance England (1965); Cressy, David, Education in Tudor and Stuart England (1975); Grendler, Paul, F., Schooling in Renaissance Italy (1989); Lawson, John, Mediaeval Education and the Reformation (1967); Newberg, Victor E., Popular Education in Eighteenth Century England (1971); Rice, Eugene, The Renaissance Idea of Wisdom (1958; repr. 1973). 19th Century: Archer, R. L., Secondary Education in the Nineteenth Century (1921; repr. 1966); Binder, Frederick M., The Age of the Common School: 1830-1865 (1974); Paulson, Friedrich, German Education: Past and Present (1906; Eng. trans., 1908). OUTSIDE \TEurope\t: Africa: Fafunwa, A., Babs, and Aisiku, J.W., eds., Education in Africa: A Comparative Study (1985); Nnolim, Charles E., ed., The Role of Education in Contemporary Africa (1988). China: Cleverly, John, The Schooling of China (1985); Hayhoe, Ruth, ed., Contemporary Chinese Education (1984); Unger, Jonathan, Education under Mao (1982). India: Aggarwal, J.C., Landmarks in the History of Modern Indian Education (1984); Chandras, Kanaur V., Four Thousand Years of Indian Education (1977); Rai, B.C., History of Indian Education (1981). Japan: Beauchamp, Edward, and Rubinger, Richard, Education in Japan (1989). Middle East: Shalabi, Ahmad, History of Muslim Education (1954); Pantelidis, V.S., Arab Education, 1956-1972 (1982). South and Southeast Asia: Altbach, Phillip G., et al., Education in South Asia (1987); Watson, J.K., Education in South East Asia (1988). Soviet Union: Alston, Patrick L., Education and the State in Tsarist Russia (1969); Brickman, William W., Education in Russia from the Middle Ages to the Present (1990); Matthews, Mervyn, Education in the Soviet Union (1983); Zajda, J. I., Education in the \TUSSR\t (1985). \Tphilosophy\t \TOf\t \Teducation\t: Barzun, Jacques, Begin Here: The Forgotten Conditions of Teaching and Learning (1991); Brubacher, John S., Modern Philosophies of Education, 4th ed. (1969), and On the Philosophy of Higher Education, rev. ed. (1982); Dupuis, A. M., Philosophy of Education in Historical Perspective, rev. ed. (1985); Nash, Paul, Authority and Freedom in Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (1966), and Models of Man: Explorations in the Western Educational Tradition (1968; repr. 1983); Ozmon, Howard, and Craver, Samuel, Philosophical Foundations of Education, 3d ed. (1986); Scheffler, Israel, ed., Philosophy and Education, 2d ed. (1966); Woods, R. G., and Barrow, R. S., Introduction to Philosophy of Education, 2d ed. (1982).