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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
As I read through the fascinating ruminations of Drs. Albisetti, Finkelstein, Thelin, and Urban, it seemed to me that two basic points emerge, one conceptual and one methodological. Conceptually, Albisetti, Finkelstein, and Urban are asking historians of education to move away from national frames of reference to either a global, transcontinental purview (Albisetti and Finkelstein) or a small, local one (Urban). The two alternatives become complementary as we read on, however, for many examples given of such globalism are actually case studies on a small scale—the lives of single individuals in Finkelstein's case, and of single institutions in Albisetti's. Similarly, Urban's localism becomes the starting point for comparative history between one location (Alabama) and another (Georgia), which in turn expands into regional comparisons (the American South and other parts of the country) and institutional ones (Catholic and public systems). The portmanteau “globalocal,” or the commonplace “think globally, act locally” seem to capture this conceptual recommendation nicely.
1 Santayana used the phrase to critique Dewey's metaphysical naturalism. I think it serves equally well as a critique of our own astigmatic attention to the recent past. See George Santayana, “Dewey's Naturalistic Metaphysics,” Journal of Philosophy 22 (1925): 678.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 James McLachan, American Boarding Schools: A Historical Study (New York: Scribner, 1970). Arthur G. Powell, Lessons from Privilege: The American Prep School Tradition (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996). Powell's book, it should be noted, is concerned mostly with the recent history of independent schools, using their example to recommend policy changes in public education.Google Scholar
3 For details, see Milton Gaither, American Educational History Revisited: A Critique of Progress (New York: Teachers College Press, 2003), 144–49, 154–55.Google Scholar
4 Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962), 35–42.Google Scholar
5 Maxine Seller, “Boundaries, Bridges, and the History of Education,” History of Education Quarterly 31 (Summer 1991): 197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6 Alan Taylor, American Colonies (New York: Viking, 2001).Google Scholar
7 Bernard Bailyn, Atlantic History: Concept and Contours (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
