ABSTRACT
In recent centuries, as people from various parts of the world began to be in more frequent contact with one another, many different cultural traditions became apparent in relation to views of the nature and capability of the young child. In the midst of so much diversity, views on appropriate early childhood practice also varied. Decisions regarding who among all the children in a society was to be taught, by whom, when and where those children would be taught, and ultimately, for what purpose they were to be taught all depended on the particular configurations of the societies in which education was embedded.
