IDEOLOGIES AND THE AMERICAN SCHOOL.

The controversy over the predominance of society at large or the school, in other words, the question of who is the first stimulant in the social process, the school or the social forces outside the school, could be greatly lessened by pointing out that both are determined by the principal objective stated for society as a whole. The Jesuit school system was a compromise aiming to imbue the colonial merchant with the anti-speculative spirit of the artisan. The colonial merchant revolted, however, against this attempt to reconcile the educational means of the artisan with his, the merchant's, social objective. The outgrowth of this rebellion was the establishment of the sovereign secular order of the monarchy. The American common school became the expression of the liberalistic order of American society. In the discussion of the role of the school, and in particular its higher type in America, the view has often been expressed that education for the sake of education is to be considered the social goal.