Seventh-day Adventists have a present-day educational program that encircles the globe. Beginning in 1872 with one college, a staff of three teachers, and ninety students, they have, eighty years later (1952) 3,854 elementary schools; 310 secondary and advanced schools; a fully accredited medical school; accredited schools of nursing; a school of dietetics; laboratory and x-ray technicians’ school; and plans for the establishment of a school of dentistry. This system embraces some 9,503 teachers and 195,041 students.

Problem: It was the purpose of this study 1. to examine the educational setting in America during the formative years of the Adventist schools; 2. to include in this examination a consideration and statements of the educational concepts, philosophies, and teaching techniques then prevalent; 3. to investigate the new concepts of education coming from abroad as they were advanced by the educational reformers in America; 4. to indicate, by this study, the possible influences of these educational trends upon the formation of the Seventh-day Adventist educational program. A closing chapter will be devoted to the outstanding characteristic o the Adventist education concepts.

Sources of Data: The material written covering the educational period under consideration from a general standpoint is voluminous; that dealing with this period in America is adequate, found generally in histories of education in the United States. No one work was found restricted to the era under study. Translations of the works of educators outside America, as Rousseau and Pestalozzi, quoted and referred to, were those of standard publications and general acceptance. Primary sources were available in the Library of Congress in the published works of many American educators as A. Bronson Alcott, Henry Barnard, Horace Mann, and others. The sections dealing with the history and principles of the SDA schools were taken from the publications of that denomination. The bibliography lists publications actually referred to; it is not a suggestive reference. Footnotes indicate materials actually quoted and references to ideas or factual information.