Boundaries, Bridges, and the History of Education

I first began to think about boundaries, although not about bridges, and the history of education when my first Ph.D. advisee walked into my office sixteen years ago to tell me about her dissertation topic. “I'm going to look at the history of the world to see who got educated, who didn't get educated, and why,” she announced. I was horrified. Needless to say, I soon persuaded her to abandon her boundless, boundaryless, topic for a neat “do-able” one with clearly defined boundaries of time, place, and subject. Two years later, my student had her degree. Sixteen years later, I am having second thoughts. What might she have produced if I had not fenced her in?