Educational reformer John Dewey discusses the role of the school in the modern society, detailing how teaching deeply influences the lives of individual children, and the entire society thereby.

Several lively and engaging chapters concern topics such as the components of the sound education. Throughout, the author seeks to dispel preconceptions and extinguish limitations of understanding that commonly underpin analyses about the educational system. While Dewey harks back to the distant past, in reviewing and acknowledging the contributions of German innovator Friedrich Froebel, he also notes what has worked in the education system from the vantage point of the 20^th century.

For the author, a society without a correctly organized, well-run and well-funded educational system is one defined by waste - in the sense of squandering the talents of its children, and in the sense of the society being impaired. The variety of schools present is important, that education pertinent to a wide variety of pursuits - scientific, practical or cerebral - be accomplished. The ideals of culture, personal conduct and acquisition of knowledge should reflect not merely set curricula, but the wider aims and accomplishments of society.