On Education

Jane Addams, the founder of Hull House in Chicago, may be best known as a social activist. She was also a brilliantly critical intellectual. Implicit in her many speeches, articles, and books is a view of education as a broad process of cultural transformation and renewal, a view that remains as compelling today as when it was first presented. Addams sees education as the foundation of democracy, the basis for the free expression of ideas.

Addamss writings on education are interpreted in an enlightening bio-graphical introduction by Ellen Lagemann. After the initial publication of this work, Barbara L. Jacquette of the Delta Group, Inc., in Phoenix wrote, "Professor Lagemann has brought life and immediacy to Jane Addamss work. Better, she has given us a context that shows us that some of our most pressing issues today are simply old problems in new guises, problems for which some of the old solutions may still be of use." Gerald Lee Gutek of Loyola University of Chicago commented "Lagemanns insightful and sensitive biography reveals Addamss transformation from a reserved graduate of a small womens college into the Progressive reformer and pioneer of the settlement house movement."

The essays collected here span a significant portion of Jane Addamss life, from the time she spent in college to her founding of Hull House and beyond. Addamss constant interest in education is reflected in her writings. This book also reveals the many influences on Addamss life, including the philosopher and educator John Dewey. On Education is an important work for educators, womens studies specialists, social workers, and historians.