Excerpt from Contributions to the Science of Education I am in nowise disposed to break with the past and to dream of an approaching revolution in educational theory and practice. A better future for the schools is doubt less foreordained, but this is to be a growth, slow and halting, like all higher forms Of growth, and a growth out of past conditions and products. The institutions of a people, to be serviceable and helpful, cannot be far in advance of their actual condition; and if the dream of the educational utopist could be realized in form, it would be inoperative with men and things as they are. It is well that our previsions are only relative. We need to aspire in order that we may grow; but the roots Of all true growth in civilization reach far back into the soil of the past. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.