Education has become a domain of considerable ideological division. Today the mantra is freedom and choice, yet at the same time, a push to "back to basics" is observed. This author attempts to trace the contours of this division by taking two steps back from the contemporary fray. One step is to situate present day discussions in a larger historical context. In this context, today's points of debate and disagreement are not so new. The other step is to interrogate the protagonists' underlying understanding of the nature of knowledge, in other words their epistemological assumptions. She describes three paradigmatic approaches to education: "didactic," "authentic," and "transformative." Transformative education may prove to be hugely significant in social terms and in the impact of social changes on education. In this article, the author reflects on the nature of the discipline of education. She concludes by arguing that education should conceive itself as a science, and suggests the constituent elements of a science of education. The time is ripe to open out the intellectual scope and ambition of education as a field of intellectual endeavour and social invention.