First published in 1982, this work is a critical survey of contemporary educational debates and themes which took on new urgency and importance at the time. In particular, it explores the problematic nature of ‘progressive education’ and ‘discipline’; the changes in the labour process and youth unemployment; the nature of the state and its relationship with schooling; the growth of state intervention and the specific forms of discrimination suffered by women and black people.
It argues that trends in education at the time can be explained by a Marxist analysis. It suggests that the changes taking place in schools and colleges were expressions of the contradictions of capitalism and of the state’s attempt to restructure education.
Acknowledgements; Preface; 1. The attack on progressive education 2. The enforcement of discipline 3. The emphasis on work-socialization 4. Schooling and the state 5. The increase in state intervention 6. The growing nexus between state and capital 7. Women and education 8. Race, imperialism and education 9. Summary and conclusions; Notes; Index
Biography
Madan Sarup
