Maintains that the practices of various school systems are not directly transferable to other societies, in part, because to be effective, each educational system must closely reflect the ethos of those it is called upon to serve. Examples of failed attempts to transfer practices are included. (JDH)

The broad problem area of the relation of education to democracy, dealing primarily with the thought of the "opportunist" wing of French democracy in the early Third Republic (1870-c. 1890), is the focus of this study. It endeavors to find out why the politicians and educators who contributed to development of the primary school believed…