It seemed to be a more prudent course to put together and to supply systematic ff broad unity to all the available threads and types of comparative activities in education. The result is an ideal construct, unattainable perhaps in its entirety, but I submit worth striving for. Such an ideal will discourage some, but perhaps they ought to be discouraged. After all, reckless or shoddy comparisons are worse than no comparisons at all. People with interest in foreign education but with modest equipment may have to content themselves with "intensive area study." Later they may perhaps attempt a second area study. May they find that in this way their equipment increases, their vision broadens, their interests widen, their experience grows in range. Soon they may find themselves ready to try comparative education.
It is only after a generation of talented and well equipped minds has been probing at the mysteries of educational comparisons that a hard core, specifically distinct discipline can emerge 'by consensus and practice. Individuals like myself can only take single steps in this direction.
Hence I can only conclude by once again invoking the pathos of the book's closing paragraph (p. 266):
The path from the original alchemy to the final science is arduous . . . but with so much at stake who is it that can doubt the justification for making the effort.