Based on anthropological and historical inquiry, this book proposes and illustrates a new approach to the comparative analysis of educational policy. It investigates cultural conceptions of human potential as they inform social and economic goals of education by reviewing the transitions of Western countries, Japan, and the People's Republic of China. An analysis of the problems and emerging patterns of Third World societies reveals how and why the meanings of life for the majority of their populations are still influenced by agrarian cultural models, even after the introduction of new educational and occupational careers. It is proposed that culture-specific meanings of education are determined by each country's particular transition from its agrarian past to its current socio-economic conditions. (JD)