Remembering William Brickman: A "Forgotten Man," a Friend, and a "Co-Player" in Comparative Education

Overview & Synopsis

In the author's article titled "Forgotten Men, Forgotten Themes: The Historical-Philosophical-Cultural and Liberal Humanist Motif in Comparative Education," he examined critically the comparative education discourse/paradigm--methodological and epistemological--of four doyens of comparative education. Regrettably, the author did not mention another noted representative of the historical-cultural and humanist motif in comparative education, William Brickman. In this article, the author describes William Brickman as a "forgotten man," a friend, and a "co-player" in comparative education. The author came to know Professor Brickman's work in educational history and comparative education when he was a graduate student under the tutorship of Professor Robert Ulich at Harvard University in the mid-1950s. It was a period of intellectual ferment regarding the nature and scope of comparative education and Professor Brickman was a key player in seeking to systematize such an "amorphous" area. As an important step toward that goal, he organized annual conferences at New York University and was instrumental in the establishment of the Comparative Education Society in 1956, which was designed "to raise the standards of study, teaching and research in comparative education" and to bring order and respectability to the field. He added that in the early 1960s as a member of the faculty of the newly established Comparative Education Center of the University of Chicago, he came to know Brickman personally and developed a professional friendship that lasted until his death.