indicated with an asterisk (*).




THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION




INTRODUCTION

THE SOURCES OF OUR CIVILIZATION


The Civilization which we of to-day enjoy is a very complex thing, made up
of many different contributions, some large and some small, from people in
many different lands and different ages. To trace all these contributions
back to their sources would be a task impossible of accomplishment, and,
while specific parts would be interesting, for our purposes they would not
be important. Especially would it not be profitable for us to attempt to
trace the development of minor features, or to go back to the rudimentary
civilizations of primitive peoples. The early development of civilization
among the Chinese, the Hindoos, the Persians, the Egyptians, or the
American Indians all alike present features which to some form a very
interesting study, but our western civilization does not go back to these
as sources, and consequently they need not concern us in the study we are
about to begin. While we have obtained the alphabet from the Phoenicians
and some of our mathematical and scientific developments through the
medium of the Mohammedans, the real sources of our present-day