The anthropology of education and of schooling have changed from the time of Spindler in the 1955 to the present in terms of methods and emphasis. McDermott, Raley, and Wolcott trace continuities through three identified eras and discuss where we might be headed.

Discuss the evolution of the anthropology of schooling by (a) synthesizing the historical evolution of the subfield and (b) offering suggestions to scholars about what must happen to the methods and foci of the anthropology of schooling in its near future so that it may make a positive impact on the understanding of the context of schooling.