Concerning the Role and State of Research in the History of Pedagogy and of the System of Education in the World Today

On the basis of the confrontation of conclusions arrived at in the historiography of pedagogy and the school system in socialist and capitalist states in the last twenty years, this essay deals with problems connected with attempts to map out individual spheres of the development of pedagogy and the school system by works of historians engaged in this field of study. It further points out methodological problems connected with the selection of facts, their critical analysis, interpretation and evaluation. Herefrom the author turns to an evaluation of important synthetizing works and point to the educational function of the history of pedagogy and the school system in the preparation and further education of teachers, instructors and pedagogues. The essay ends by an appeal made in the name of the works of J. J. Rousseau and J. A. Comenius to conserve nature and to save peace as factors indispensable for systematic upbringing and education of children and young people at the break of the two millenniums. The author considers this as the most actual task of this basic discipline of pedagogical sciences.