Revival: The School Idea: Ancient and Modern (1931)

The School Idea has taken such a hold on modern civilisation that it is important that the nine million parents of school children, the two hundred thousand teaches, and the seven thousand annual entrants to the teaching profession in the British Isles should have clear ideas on the present place and function of the School, and should also see it in its historical setting, to the end that its influence may be for the making of 'good citizens' and fully developed individuals. Pressure of work in other aspects of the Theory and Practice of Teaching seens to preclude for students any very wide reading in the history of schools and in the evolution of educational theory. This brief essay is an attempt to bring some of the more important aspects of the subject before students (and practising teachers as well) in the hope that they will be the better able to practise the teaching art in the light of the long history of their craft, with some realisations of the importance of the school, and of their work, in modern life.