The contribution which this approach hopes to make to the field of comparative education is primarily methodological. Rather than compare school system with school system around the world, our approach derives from recent developments in the behavioral sciences. At the risk of preciding, we delineate four theories of education. Each theory accepts four essentials for education: a teacher, a learner, subject matter, and the community within which they are related.2 Each theory answers pedagogical questions differently while preserving its own integrity. The four theories of education we discuss are expediency, indoctrination, scholasticism, and pragmatism. Within each theory we first examine the purpose to be achieved by the school and the psychology by which this purpose is effected. Second, we consider the subject matter, the methods for teaching it, and the ease with which subject matter is both acquired and forgotten. Third, we consider tests, methods of study, and the basis upon which learners are compared. Because each school has its peculiar tension, we examine the general conflict within the system. Thereafter we consider the fears which plague the teachers and the teachers' reaction to their fears. Because learners are subject to fears which differ with their schools, we examine the fears under which learners labor and their reactions to fear. Finally, we assess where blame is laid for failure within each theory of education and whatever remedy has been proposed to improve the situation.