For a decade beginning in 1904, Sargent ran a travel school for boys, in which he led tours to Europe and other parts of the world.
[3][4] Moehlman wrote that Sargent's "annual Forewords to the Handbook of Private Schools gradually evolved into the most comprehensive critiques of education published anywhere.
His candid treatment of vested interests, of educational cant, of stuffed shirts, of the tradition-encrusted academic mind and, above all, the sacred cows of privilege and tradition brought them into more prominence with each succeeding edition.
"[2]: 185 The Handbook's fourth edition (1918) was more than 700 pages in length, had dozens of chapters in four long sections entitled 1.
Immediately after the table of contents, it also contained the following invitation to readers: Parents and Prospective Patrons of the Private Schools are cordially invited to call upon or write Mr. Sargent for intimate information and unprejudiced advice.
He is an independent and intelligent dissenter, a type once thought to be rather characteristic of New England and of which we were justly proud.
"[7] In 1949, Arthur B. Moehlman, also referring to Sargent as having the "role of a gadfly,"[2]: 187 wrote that Probably the most outstanding and consistent critic of the American educational scene since 1914 has been Porter Sargent of Boston, who is also a national authority on the private school.