Historia wychowania w starym stylu

Abstract

The author's reflections are concerned with various definitions of the history of education as a branch of knowledge. On this base he formulates the conceptions of the old and new style in the studies in question. The old style which dominated in the history of education up to the World War II prefers the investigation of the history of great educational ideas as well as that of educational institutions. These two enormous fields of historical studies have been often regarded in many countries up to our times as principal components of the subject of the history of education. This kind of studies has been recently more and more frequently criticized because of its tendency to isolate the problems under investigation from other domains and phenomena of social life as well as thanks to the occasional, often hagiographical character of these studies. Nowadays the social history of education prevails. Its chief subject are: the place and function of the school among other social institutions, the influence of state school upon different social groups and classes, social importance of elementary education etc. Studies of these subjects commenced on the turn of the 19th century; they have interested and inspired a great many scholars, i.e. historians who have regarded the knowledge of the past as a real, not only a supposed one, source of the explanation of contemporary life. They represent a new style in the studies of the history of education.