The Dictionary of Education

Author(s): W. W. Charters and Carter V. Good

Source: The Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Sep., 1945), pp. 5-7
Published by: Phi Delta Kappa International
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20495320 .
Accessed: 28/06/2014 08:15

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Phi Delta Kappa International is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Phi
Delta Kappan.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.220.202.66 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:15:23 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 e Dictionary
FOREWORD
W ITHthe publication of theDictionary of Edu
cation the science of education comes of age.
While the art of education is of very ancient lineage,
the science of education came into being with
birth of the 20th century, only 40 years ago. During
the years which have intervened between that date and
this, thousandsof pioneershave inventedwordswith
abandon and given strange new meanings to old words
without regardto acceptedusage.
It was in the order of natural events that confusion
should follow in the trainof uncontrolled invention.
Words came to have whatever meaning an individual
wished to give them and only unusually careful writ
ers defined their terms. This adolescent freedom of
playwith meanings,while an exhilaratingexperience,
has hindered communication. Conflicts and argu
ments have been provoked between men who use
the same words, but with different meanings. In fact,
the lack of clear definition of concepts has led to
usages so loose that with too great frequency many
writers have not been consistent in their own use of
their own terms.
It was to be expected that scholarly thinkers should
be concerned with this lack of accuracy. When the
science of education was only 20 years old, articles
began to appear in the literature to call attention to
the confusion. And as normally happens, certain in
dividualsmade constructivemoves to rectify the con
dition.
The Editor of the Dictionary of Education was the
leaderwho crystallized feeling into action. Nearly
20 years ago he made his first analyses of usage and
wrote his first reports. Ten years ago he helped enlist
the alert sympathy of the then United States Com
missioner of Education, George F. Zook, who aided
in the appointment of a joint committee of the Amer
ican EducationalResearchAssociation and of The
AmericanCouncil on Education,which worked with
meager funds. Thereafter, with the persistence of
the pioneer, the Editor led the movement to secure the
support of the educational fraternity for men, Phi
Delta Kappa, which in turnprovided sponsorshipfor
the Dictionary and the modest funds which have been
needed to complete the project. Just as the new
Encyclopediaof EducationalResearch is themonu
ment of Walter S.Monroe, so the Dictionary of Edu
cation is the substantial contribution of Carter V.
Good.
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.66 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:15:23 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
of Education
The Dictionary of Educationwill serve two histor
ical purposes. On the one hand, it is the first instru
ment of the profession as a whole which is dedicated
to exactnessof words and the artistryof precision.
For the young scholarwho isbuilding his vocabulary
the
the definitionsof authoritieswill provide a solid base.
In the Dictionary he has a source to consult which will
acquainthimwith commonlyacceptedmeanings. For
themature scholar also the definitionswill be useful
as he sets his own meanings against the background of
meanings of others which have been assembled in
terse and convenient form.
On the other hand, this first edition provides a
solid base upon which to build a more perfect instru
ment. Those who have closely followed the task of
assembling the vocabulary and of securing the co
operation of scholars to define the terms realize the
enormous amount of detailed work that has been
poured into the project for the last decade. Such ob
servers are less concerned about the criticisms of users
that must inevitably appear. They see rather that only
by the publication of this first substantial solution to
the problem of definition can better dictionariesbe
made by later lexicographers.
W. W. CHARTERS,
StephensCollege.
PREFACE
Origin of the Dictionary Project.-Phi Delta Kappa
voted at theCincinnatimeeting of theNational Coun
cil (December, 1937) to sponsor preparation of a
comprehensiveeducationaldictionary,and two years
later at the Chicago meeting of the National Council
made substantialplans for support of the project.
This action had been preceded by a period of prelim
inary work to which a number of individuals and
organizations contributed. A committee under the
chairmanship of President D. A. Robertson of Gouch
er College, with the support and sponsorship of the
American Council on Education, acting jointlywith
a committee of the American Educational Research
Association (of which the Editor was chairman), had
contributed generously to the formulation of an initial
working plan. The original suggestion that commit
tees of the American Council on Education and of
theAmerican EducationalResearchAssociation study
the problem of educational terminology came from
George F. Zook early in 1934, at the time he was
U. S. Commissioner of Education, and his interest in
the project continued after becoming president of the
American Council on Education.
5
6 THE PHI DELTA KAPPAN

Purpose and Scope.-The primary purpose of this nized experts in the various areas of educationwere
volume is to make available a comprehensive diction invited to assume responsibilityfor selecting terms
ary of professional terms in education that will do for and formulatingdefinitions in their respectivefields
educational workers and teachers what already has of specialization.The fields and authors represented
been accomplishedby technicaldictionariesfor prac in the Encyclopedia of EducationalResearch (Mac
titioners in such special fields asmedicine, law, engi millan, 1941) provedveryhelpful in thisphase of the
neering, and psychology. In clarificationof the con project.
cepts and terminologyemployed in educationalwrit Inmost instances,the co-ordinatorschose to enlist
ing, speaking, and teaching, it is important to re the assistance of a number of their associates and of
memberMark Twain's statement:"The differencebe their graduate students. This procedure resulted in
tween the right word and the nearly right word is the the co-operation of several thousand individuals.
differencebetween lightning and the lightning bug." Some co-ordinators formed committees numbering
The Dictionary is concernedwith technical and only a few collaborators, while other specialists co
professional terms and concepts in the entire area of operated with as many as forty or fifty persons.
education. As a general policy, it has excluded names Preparationand Refinement of SpecializedWord
of persons, institutions,school systems,organizations, Lists.-Through use of the master list, and by exam
places, aand titlesof publicationsand journals,except ining indexesof selected textbooks,articles in profes
where amovement,method, or plan is represented. sional journals,glossaries, and special dictionaries,
Only those foreign educational termsmost fre each co-ordinator compiled a list of terms limited as
quently employed in the study of comparative educa closely as possible to his immediate field of specializa
tion (particularlythe schools of Canada, England, tion. Copies of theseword lists,when forwarded to
France, Germany, and Italy) are defined. An attempt the Cincinnati editorial office, were examined with a
view to discovering and eliminating unnecessarydu
has been made to select from such related fields as
psychology, sociology, and philosophy those terms plications, deleting nonprofessional terms, and add
with significanteducational connotations. ing appropriatewords.
Another problem of delimitationhas been encoun In refining theword list for a particularsubdivision
tered in choosing technical terms for definition, espe of education, the editorial office, the co-ordinator,
cially in school subject fields, so as to include only and his associates employed the following criteria:
words with definite educationaland professionalcon 1. Is the term a professional one, applicable to the
notations. Obviously, such purely contentor subject field of education, or a strictly subject-matter term,
matter terms as test-tube in science, triangle inmathe such as triangle or circle in mathematics?
matics, and voting in civics are not included. Carpet 2. Is the term given a special meaning or shade of
bagger has meaning in history, but no special profes meaning in education?
sional significance for the field of education; on the 3. Has the term a direct application to the area in
other hand, counterchronological order has a place in question ?
the educational vocabulary of the social studies field. 4. Is the term more frequently used in the par
Holstein is an important term in agriculture, but prob ticular area than in other fields of education?
ably has no place in a dictionary of education, while 5. If the term is used in related fields, is it given a
Smith-Hughes Act does have special professional sig special meaning or shade of meaning in the area in
nificance in the field of education. question ?
The Master List of Terms.-The first step was the 6. Can the term be treated adequately in a fifty
preparation of a master list of some 19,000 terms, word definition? Space limitationsand the function
based largely on examination of the indexes of a wide of a dictionary required that encydopedic terms or
range of books in education. The major part of this phrasesbe omitted; for example,conflictingpsycholo
work of compilation was done at Wayne University gies of learning or the relation between high school
under the direction of W. Ray Smittle. This word list marks and performnance in college. Other items of an
was placed in the hands of the various specialists re encyclopedic nature that were omitted included: per
sponsible for formulating definitions. The master sons, institutions,school systems,places, educational
list was intended only as a starting point in the se organizations, fraternities, foundations, national com
lection of terms for definition, and was suggestive mittees, publications, journals, and standard tests.
ratherthan definitive. Such terms were defined only where an educational
The Co-ordinators.-After compiling the word list, movement, method, or plan was represented; for ex
the next step was the selection of more than one ample, the Morrison unit organization, Montessori
hundred specialists to serve as co-ordinators. Recog method, Gary plan, and Winnetka plan. Space limi

This content downloaded from 91.220.202.66 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:15:23 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 THE DICTIONARY OF EDUCATION 7

tationsmade it necessaryto dispensewith quotations Except for the assistance provided the Editor in the
that might otherwise present central office, all services have been contributed, a
in context the particular
termdefined. contributionestimatedby experiencededitors at some
As anotherstep in identificationof theprofessional $200,000.
vocabulary of the various areas in education, the con Phi Delta Kappa has provided not only for the
tent of the Encyclopedia of Educational Research was financial supportof the editorial office at Cincinnati
analyzed. In alternate columns of the Encyclopedia over the entire period of seven years, but has given
the professional termswere underlined preliminary generously of time and service through its officers,
to compilationinto an alphabeticalcheck list, for com chapters, and individualmembers. Therefore, all
parisonwith the definitionsalreadyin the files. Some royalties are payable to Phi Delta Kappa.
The advisorycommitteefor theDictionaryhas done
2,000 new words for definition resulted from this
its substantial part, in spite of pressure of wartime
comparison. A less extensive word analysis, based on
conditions, and limitations on travel and funds for
the topicalheadings of the Encyclopediaof Modern conferences.
Education (PhilosophicalLibrary,1943), resultedin a The burden of selecting terms, and of preparing
relativelysmall number of additional termsfor defi and evaluating definitions,has fallen to the co-ordi
nition. nators and their associates.Constructivecriticismof
Review andCollation.-Approximately 20,000 defi definitions has come from the reviewing committees
nitionswere written bymore than 100 co-ordinators and from the professional organizationsrepresented.
or specialistsand theirnumerousassistants,and edited The University of Cincinnati has been generous
by the staff of the Dictionary office. In turn, some in arranging the Editor's campus schedule, and in pro
100 reviewing committees, for themost part repre viding facilities and space for the editorial office.
sentingnational professionalorganizations,evaluated Certain authors and publishers have generously
the definitions in particular areas. Finally, the edi permitted adaptations of some of their definitions for
torial office sought to collate all criticisms received use in the Dictionary.
for a particulardefinition, always referring the final CARTER V. GooD,
version to the original author for approval. In many University of Cincinnati.
instances, several definitions for a particular term
Orders for more than 2,000 copies of the Dictionary
have been listed seriatim to represent special usage
of Education at the special pre-publication price of
in different subdivisionsof education,which has re
$2.80 per copy offered tomembers in good standing
duced the- total number of terms in the alphabetical
were received in the national office by August 1, the
listing to approximately 16,000. In these several
date of publication. These orders were carefully pro
stagesof refinement,several thousandworkers in all
cessed, listed, certified as to good standing, and for
have given assistance.
warded to McGraw-Hill Book Co. who filled them
Spelling and Pronunciation.-In matters of spell promptly following release of the Dictionary on Au
ing,Webster's New InternationalDictionaryhas been
gust 1. Any member who failed to receive a copy
followed. Pronunciation is given for common terms which he ordered should write the national office at
in education frequentlymispronounced, for certain once. The order will be traced. Any address change
words derived fromLatinor Greek roots,for foreign should be noted. Phi Delta Kappa does not fill any
language terms, and for many medical and psycho orders, and all future orders at the regular price of
logical expressions related to education. $4.00 per copy should be placed direct with McGraw
Order of Listing Terms.-With the exception of Hill Book Co.
educational terms in a foreign language, the defini An announcementof the pre-publicationofferwas
tions are arranged alphabetically. As a rule, the com mailed to all chapters on May 18 and to all members
pound terms are listed in inverse- order, to stress the on the national office mailing list, regardless of good
keyword or noun form; for example,superintendent, standing, a few days later. The special offer was
school, or high school, vocational. For these com closed August 1, in accordance with our contract with
pound terms a full system of cross reference has been the publishing company. Returning servicemen are
provided. The terms relating to foreign systemsof the exception and they may place orders through the
education are grouped by country in a section at the national office at the special rate.
back of the volume. It is now desirable that each member be a salesman
Acknowledgments.-Like any large co-operative to place the Dictionary in the hands of other school
project, the Dictionary is the work of many persons, men and school women and in his institution library.
and but for their help could not have been completed. (See full-page advertisement.)

This content downloaded from 91.220.202.66 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:15:23 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions