Comparison of Dewey and Jefferson as to philosophy and philosophy of education promises a fruitful field of research which it is hoped will occupy some scholar in the near future. Many have suggested it, not the least of them being Dewey himself who compiled many of Jefferson's writings for the Modern Library. The present effort attempts only to examine briefly certain similarities in their works as these works help to develop the thesis that all philosophy of education has its foundation in value theory.

“As to writing, I confess to being sceptical as to its value. In at least one great institution, the knowledge of how to write has led to great difficulties in managing high grade cases, the men and women communicating with each other by means of notes.”

The publication of Lawrence Cremin's The Transformation of the School, which is subtitled Progressivism in American Education, 1876–1957, was a noteworthy occasion for students of American culture in general and of American education in particular. This volume marked the conclusion of the first thoroughgoing attempt to study progressivism in American education. Such an attempt is welcomed by those who have long hoped to see a work which considers progressive education as a significant contribution to American thought and character, rather than as an anti-intellectual and irresponsible hocus-pocus, as many of its detractors and caricaturists would have us believe. For those who would read history instead of the over-simplified and often downright irresponsible caricatures and detractions of progressive education, there is in Cremin's study ample evidence to demonstrate that “the word progressive provides the clue to what it was: the educational phase of American Progressivism writ large.”

A century has passed since the Civil War, which had as one of its main emotional causes the problem of human bondage. Like John Brown's spirit, its ghost still marches with us as we painfully attempt to solve the problem of race relations. Because the geography textbooks that were printed before the war contained considerable history and government, as well as geography, they exercised a mighty force on the thinking of their youthful readers at a time when books were by no means as plentiful as they are today, and there was no competition from television. Through them we can trace the strengthening or weakening of positive attitudes toward the greatest social evil in the history of mankind.

In an interesting essay on religion and the American schools Robert Coughlan has made the observation that the rise of the nonsectarian public schools prepared the way for the development of a “vast, new, and profoundly sectarian school system—the parochial schools of American Catholics.” This movement was a consequence of the large immigration of Catholics, the prohibition of public support of sectarian schools in state constitutions, and the vigorous efforts of the Catholic hierarchy after the 1884 decree, which motivated the building of parochial schools.

The book review section of a quarterly such as the one in the History of Education Quarterly might be useful in a variety of ways. First and obviously, it would provide a listing along with some comment concerning writing being done in history of education, a convenient service for anyone who would be aware of what is current in the field. Other journals of course would likely serve the purpose of providing notices of current writing adequately enough, though all too often this comment may be the ruminations of a staff writer, or even an outright “pitch” for selling books. This review section could offer somewhat more than a listing with comment and that is a review of each work by one qualified professionally to criticize, to praise, to blame, to judge relevance and competence, to relate to other works in history and education—in sum, to make a professional appraisal of the book. Such reviewing in this review section would likely be of interest to everyone concerned with history of education, but it would be of special value to those who are doing research and writing in the field. The profession owes these scholars this sort of critical attention, that in illuminating the successes as well as failures in their work, their scholarly efforts may be encouraged.