The International Library of Sociology

THE SOCIAL PURPOSES

OF EDUCATION

Founded by KARL MANNHEIM

 The International Library ofSociolofJY

TilE SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

In 28 Volumes

I Adolescent Girls in Approved Schools Richard:wn

II Adult Education Peers
III DownStream Dale and Griffith
IV Education After School Stimson
v Education and Society Ottaway
VI Education and Society in Modem France Frmer
VII Education and Society in Modem Germany Samuel ai'J(i Thomas
VIIJ Education and the H110dicapped: 1760-1960 Pritchard
IX Education in Israel Bentwich
X Education in Transition Dent
XI The Education of the Countryman Burton
XII The Educational Thought and Influence of
Matthew Arnold Conne./1
XIII English Primlll')' Education (Port One): Schools Blythe
XIV English Primary Education (Pilrt Two): Background Blythe
XV From School to University Dale
XVI. Helvetius Cumming
XVII Mission of the Univer:sity Ortegay Gasset
(The above title is not available through Routledge in North America)
xvrn Parity and Prestige in English Secondlll)' Education Banks
XIX Problems in Education Holmes
XX The School Inspector Edmonds
XXI The Sixth Fonn and College Entrance Morris
xxn Sucial Class and the Comprehensive School Ford
XXIII The Social Psychology of Education Fleming
XXIV The Social Purposes of Education Collier
XXV Social Relations in a Secondary School Hargreaves
XXVI Total Education Jacks
XXVII Values and Involvement in a Grammar School King
XXV Ill Who Shall Be Educated? Warner, Havighlll'st and Loeb
(The above title is not available through Routledge in Norlh America)
THE SOCIAL PURPOSES
OF EDUCATION

by
K. G. COLLIER
 First published in 1959 by
Routledge

Reprinted 1998, 2002

by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Transferred to Digital Printing 2007

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

© 1959 K. G. Collier

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced

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A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library

The Social Purposes of Education

ISBN 0-415-17774-X
The Sociology of Education: 28 Volumes
ISBN 0-415-17833-9
The International Library of Sociology: 27 4 Volumes
ISBN 0-415-17838-X

Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint
but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent

ISBN 978-1-1362-7340-7 (ebk)

 'To
G. M. C. and M. G. C.
to whom I owe such understanding
as I have of education
This page intentionally left blank
 CONTENTS

Preface page xi
Acknowledgments XV

PART ONE: THE CHALLENGE OF

THE PRESENT SITUATION
I The Challenge of an Evolving Society ;
The Idea of Challenge and Response-The Economic
Position-The Fact of Massive Social Change
II The Increase in Scale of Modern Communities I I
Centralization-Atomization
III Changing Attitudes to Authority and Tradition 22
Increased Power of the ' Under-privileged' -Changing
Attitudes to Authoriry-Uncertainry Regarding the
Ends of Life-The Widening of Horizons-Review

PART II: THE RESPONSE:

AIMS AND RESOURCES
IV The Resources of Our Community: Our Living
Values 39
British Habits and Outlook: Methods of Study-
British Habits and Outlook: A Survry
V The Creation of a Tradition: the Place of the Indi-
vidual Conscience 53
The Sources of a Community's Character-The
Growth of a Tradition-The Personal Resources of
the Teacher- Self-knowledge and Commitment
vii
 Contents
VI Educational Objectives page 61
Social and Civic Virtues-Private Virtues

PART Ill: THE UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS

VII The Development of Values and Attitudes in the
Growing Personality 89
Anthropological Evidence-Values and Attitudes
Derived from Instinct-Values and Attitudes de-
rived from Deliberate Training- Values and Atti-
tudes Derivedfrom Example- Values and Attitudes
Derived from Certain Other Adult Influences-
Values and Attitudes Derived from a State of
Anxiety or Strain
VIII Self and Conscience 1 I 2.
The Conscience-The Unconscious-Frames of
Reference-The Self-Will and Choice
IX Learning I 2.9
Conditioning-Intelligence in Learning-Complex
Skills-Imagination
X Scientific and Ethical Presuppositions I46
Scientific Assumptions-The Basis of the Scientific
Approach to Reality-The Relation of the Social
Sciences to Values-Ethical Assumptions

PART IV: EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES

XI Authority and Discipline 161
The Disciplinary Ftmctions of Authority-The
Principle of Manifest Goodwill
XII Authority and Participation 171
Prefect Systems-Participation in the Classroom-
The Indirect Approach-Pupils Working Under
Their Own Direction-Joint Decision-Group Work
XIII The Rhythm of Learning I86
A Topic in Physics-A Topic in History-Adapta-
tion of the Principle-the Quality of Learning-
Relations of Parents and Teachers
viii
 Contents
XIV Integrity page 194
The Nature of AHtistic Thinking-The Apprehen-
sion of Reality-Psychological Functions of Expres-
sive Activities-Conditions Hnder which Expressive
Acfit,ities mr:ry be Profitable-Classroom Methods-
Integrity-The Argument of the Book
XV Science and General Education 218

List of References
Index

ix
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 PREFACE

T HIS book is addressed primarily to teachers and student-

teachers. The post-war Welfare State, however, has seen a
surge of public interest in education and it is hoped that
parents and employers will also find it sheds some light on the
changing practices of the schools. Finally, since the scope of the
book is conceived in terms of the challenge that faces all men of
goodwill in our somewhat disturbed society, the general argu-
ment may be of interest to thoughtful adults not particularly con-
cerned with what happens in schools.
The word 'education' is often taken to mean 'academic instruc-
tion'; and one strand of common usage certainly supports this
interpretation. There is, however, another tradition in this
country which defines education in much wider terms, embracing
the moral and social aspects of personality. Under the terms of the
1944 Education Act, which charges Local Authorities with con-
tributing towards the 'spiritual, moral, mental, and physical
development of the community', this second tradition was incor-
porated in the national policy for education. It is from within this
tradition that this book is written.
To take such a stand, however, makes the subject of education
much more difficult to expound systematically. The writer has to
understand how children develop, not only intellectually but in
their moral and social nature; that is, he has to be familiar with
certain branches of psychology. The necessity of considering the
moral aspect of development obliges him further to clarify the
relationship between psychological principles and moral prin-
ciples, that is, between the rational and religious grounds of moral
principles and the assumptions that underlie the pursuit of a
science such as psychology. Moreover, since the life of the
imagination contributes to all the highest forms of human activity,
xi
 Preface
he must be familiar with the characteristics of the intuitive, non-
discursive ' thinking' that is found in art. And again, as society is
now changing with extraordinary rapidity it is essential for him to
have sufficient sociological and historical understanding to recog-
nize the kind of society that his pupils are likely to have to cope
with. Finally, unless he has considerable experience of children in
the classrooms and playgrounds of schools he is likely to blunder
when he talks about the practical art of teaching. In short, I am
arguing that the subject of education, taken as a whole, is a subject
of great complexity, for which one needs, ideally, to be at home
with several of the major disciplines of the human mind. With the
extension of modern knowledge, therefore, a systematic treatise
is probably no longer within the compass of a single individual,
only of a team, and I have to make clear that the present book
is an attempt, not to produce any such comprehensive work but
to articulate the relations between these disciplines; or, if one looks at
the matter from another point of view, to conduct a search for
criteria by which to judge educational methods.
I start from the assumption that for most people at most times
the greatest incentive to sustained effort ai a high level of intensity and
altruism is the sense that something they treasure is threatened. In
Toynbee's terminology, a creative response is evoked by a chal-
lenge. (But of course the effort may not be altruistic; the response
may not be creative.) For many people concerned with education
the challenge of pupils needing to be 'trained up the way. they
should go', or just 'pushed through examinations.', is enough in
practice, if they like their pupils, to inspire years of devoted ser-
vice. But in my view this is no longer adequate. Certain features
of a modern technical society make it imperative that a large
proportion of those cqncerned in education shall not only under-
stand their pupils and their subjects but shall have a clear grasp of
the trends of social development and a full awareness of their own
personal values. In a simple pre-technical society where values
are clearly laid down by a single institution the only question is,
what the most effective methods are by which the teacher can
bring his pupils into the full inheritance of those values. But in a
complex technical society where all values are uncertain, the great
and immediate danger is that children, and particularly adoles-
cents, will be lost in the confusion; the immediate index of which
is loss of zest and effort, followed by a rise in the neurosis and
xii
 Preface
suicide rates-already a common feature of advanced societies.
If a teacher is to be able to offer the desired support and guidance
to his pupils, he needs far more than in the past to search into his
own mind and heart and to know clearly what in his particular
society he really stands for, and how his overall ends in life are
related to the educational methods he employs. This principle
applies naturally to myself as to any other teacher: I have to make
explicit to myself my own most treasured values and their expres-
sion in my educational methods. But whereas a teacher in a school
is not obliged to declare his values to his pupils otherwise than
through the medium of his actions towards them, in my case a
principal object of the present exercise must be to demonstrate
the process of articulating one's values with one's picture of
society and one's chosen techniques of education. It is therefore
incumbent on me to state my basic values. Experience, however,
has convinced me that to attempt to do so solely by the bare
bones of abstract analysis is so much waste of time; hence the
longish passages of quotation in Chapter VI in which I hope those
values take on such flesh and blood as will convey the life and
drive that inform the educational methods described later. In a
stable uncomplicated society the existence of evil is an adequate
spur to the teacher's effort; in a rapidly changing mass society the
focus of the challenge should be the impact of social change on his
most treasured values as these are manifested in the life and growth
of his pupils.

xiii
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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wrsH to express my thanks to the following authors and

publishers for permission to quote or to use diagrams from
their books: I. H. Pearse and L. H. Crocker and Messrs.
Allen & Unwin for the passage from The Peckham Experiment;
Cecil Woodham-Smith and Penguin Books Ltd. for the passages
from Florence Nightingale; the editor of the Times Literary Supple-
ment and The Times Publishing Co. for the passage from the
Times Literary Supplement; Lord Radcliffe and Messrs. Seeker &
Warburg for the passage from The Problem of Power; the executors
of the late G. B. Shaw and Messrs. Constable for the passage from
Saint joan; the Acton Society Trust for two graphs; and the
Director-General of UNESCO for the passage from Community
Education in Puerto Rico.
I also gratefully acknowledge permission from the editors and
publishers of the following journals to quote from papers or
articles of my own: The Hibbert Journal; The Journal of Educational
Sociolo.[!J; Researches and Studies of Leeds University Institute of
Education; Education for Teaching; Church Quarterfy Review,· Times
Educational Supplement,· and a symposium Religious Faith and World
Culture published by Messrs. Prentice-Hall of New York under
the auspices of the Church Peace Union.
I wish :finally to record my warmest thanks to the following
persons, who read the typescript of this book in whole or in part
and gave me the benefit of their comments: Canon V. A. Demant;
Walter James; Roy Niblett; and John Tibbie.

B' XV
This page intentionally left blank
 PART ONE
The Challenge of the
Present Situation
This page intentionally left blank
 I
THE CHALLENGE OF AN
EVOLVING SOCIETY

The Idea of Challenge and Response

I l' is my view that this country is facing a critical period in its

history, and that on that account everybody concerned with
education has a responsibility for knowing what he is trying to
do, in bringing up the next generation, and why he is trying to
do it. The country is faced with a very severe challenge, in the
shape of various economic, social and moral changes, and its
future depends on the response we make to this challenge.
The idea of challenge and response has been made familiar by
Toynbee,1 but it is fundamental to my argument and I must spend
a short time clarifying its meaning.
In the first place it can be seen in operation at the level of the
individual. Everyone can recall great historical figures who have
refused to be defeated by disasters and have risen to greater
achievements after disaster than before. President Roosevelt was
crippled by polio when he was a young man but reached the White
House in spite of it. King Alfred was at one time reduced to the
level of a gang-leader before he defeated the Danes and established
his power. Beethoven was a professional composer and pianist in
his early thirties when he was afflicted with deafness, but his inner
acceptance of the resulting deprivation and suffering is considered
to have engendered some of his greatest music. 2
1 A Study of History (Oxford); abridgement of Vols. r-6 by D. C. Somervell
(O.U.P. 1946), ch. 5·
2 Cf. J. W. N. Sullivan, Beethoven (Cape 1927; Penguin 1949).

3
 The Challenge of the Present Situation
Similarly, most English readers will be able to recall a football
or cricket match where a losing team, meeting at half-time, have
made up their minds together to win at all costs; and have won.
Such success is often the result of exceptional leadership from a
captain or coach.
On a larger scale still we can examine instances of the success
or failure of a whole class, or a nation, in meeting a severe chal-
lenge. In France in 1789 we might say that the ruling class failed
to understand the gravity of the situation with which they were
faced or to rise to the emergency as it developed; and they were
wiped out. A contrasting example is offered by the Dutch in the
last thirty years of the sixteenth century, when they rose against
the brutal Spanish rule and after a bloody struggle gained their
freedom.
The above accounts of successful and unsuccessful responses
say nothing about the quality or character of the appropriate
response. In the football match or the liberation of Holland the
outstanding need perhaps is for an unconquerable fighting spirit;
but it is not enough in itself: the willingness of each individual to
fight to the bitter end depends on his sense of the unity of the
team and his conviction of their common loyalty to the cause. In
France in 1789, however, the qualities required for a successful
response were different: a recognition of the right of the poorer
classes to a better standard of living and of the middle classes to a
greater share in the government of the country, or at the least a
capacity to see when the game was up and to give way gracefully.
In short, the qualities required in a community faced with a grave
emergency depend on the nature of that emergency. In our own
case, accordingly, our next step must be to analyse the crisis and
understand the nature of the threat.
Five aspects of our position must be examined: our economic
situation; the increase in scale of communities and organizations;
the changing distribution of power between different social layers;
an increasing uncertainty about the purposes of human life and
a widening of the horizons of thought among ordinary people.

The Economic Position

Great Britain is a highly industrialized country. This fact carries a
number of important implications regarding the population
structure.
4
 The Challenge of an Evolving Society
The following table1 shows the distribution of man-power
among different occupations in 1954:
Per Number of

--
Cent Thousands I
Primary 4"6 1,021 Agriculture and fishing Producing
4•6% food

3"9 865 Mining and quarrying

Winning raw
6·4 I,438 Building
materials and
Secondary 4"4 986 Textiles
manufactur-
51"1% 1"7 376 Gas, water and electricity
ing them into
1 57 5.734 Miscellaneous manufac-
goods
tures
9"I 1,010 Engineering

T6 1,691 Transport
5"9 I,3J I Public administration
Distribution
Tertiary u·6 1,801 Distribution
and services
44"1% I8 "l 4,037 Other consumer ser-
vices, medical, enter-
tainment, etc.

We notice that only a minute proportion of the population is

concerned with agriculture. It is also significant that the percent-
age directly engaged in producing goods is very little larger than
that concerned in providing amenities, such as entertainment and
medical treatment, or distributing goods. This third group of
occupations is much larger in comparison with the other two than
it was fifty years ago and corresponds to a wider distribution of
amenities through the population. Yet it is the industrial producers
who must bear the main burden of keeping the country sol-
vent, by exporting a large enough volume of manufactured
goods to pay both for the raw materials we have to import to
make them, and for the food necessary to maintain our living
standards.
The next table2 shows the overwhelming extent to which our
population live in towns. It can be seen that more than a third are
to be found in the great urban agglomerations; only about a fifth
live in the countryside.
1 G. D. H. Cole, The Po.rl-war Condition of Britain (Roudedge 1956), p. 47•
2 Ibid., p. 7·
 The Challenge of the Present Situation
Population Per cent
Seven major conurbations. (The
smallest included is Tyneside r8,66r,ooo 36 '7
with 838,ooo)
Other towns, including areas
of Urban District Councils 21,3I8,ooo 42·o

Areas of Rural District Councils Io,8o6,ooo 2I · 3

The third table1 represents the social stratification of English

society.
Per cent
Class I Higher administrative, professional
and managerial 3'3
Class II Lesser administrative, professional
and managerial I I '2
Farmers 2'7
Shopkeepers and small employers 4'9 r8·8
Class III Remaining black-coated workers,
including foremen I2'2
Skilled manual workers and those
engaged in personal services
Class IV Semi-skilled manual workers I I '2
Agricultural labourers 4'2 I 5 '4
Class V Unskilled workers II'3
Members of H.M. Forces o·3 I I ·6

We observe that two-thirds of the adult population belong to the

manual workers, and about 10 per cent to the 'upper middle'
class. It is of course impossible to draw sharp lines between social
classes, since these are judged partly by financial status, partly
by educational background, partly by circles of friendship and
other intangible factors. In any case people's estimates of their
social class vary with the circumstances in which they are asked.
For example, Americans who were asked to state whether they be-
longed to the upper, middle or lower classes gave answers in the
following proportions: upper 6 per cent; middle 88 per cent;
lower 6 per cent; but when given also the alternative category
'working class' they replied: upper 3 per cent; middle 43 per cent;
working 51 per cent; lower I per cent; other answers 2 per cent. 2
1 G. D. H. Cole, Studies in Class Structure (Routledge 1955), p. 153; cf. ]. E. Floud
and others, Social Class and Educational Opportunity (Heinemann 1956), ch. I.
2 W.]. H. Sprott, Social Psychology (Methuen 1952), p. 2.5.
6
 The Challenge of an Evolving Society
In this country an investigation obtained the following figures: in
the first, upper .2. per cent; middle 48 per cent; working 45 per
cent; other answers 5 per cent.1
These facts are indispensable for an appreciation of our eco-
nomic position, to which we must now turn our attention. The
main considerations may be briefly summed up as follows.
In the world as a whole, population is growing faster than agri-
cultural production. A distinguished economist estimates the
former at approximately I! per cent per annum (about 30 mil-
lions), and the latter at approximately o·3 per cent per annum. 2
As long as these figures remain approximately true they mean a
constant pressure on food supplies and a constant threat of famine
to many millions of people. It is true that U.S.A. and certain other
countries have had large food surpluses in the last few years, but
it has to be recognized that the crisis-spots are precisely in those
countries that are least able to purchase grain in millions of tons,
namely India, China, Burma and other under-developed regions.
The technical knowledge for increasing food production is already
available; the difficulty lies first in the immense quantities of
equipment and fertilizer required; second in the number of techni-
cally trained men needed; and third in the fact that no large ad-
vance in agricultural production can be achieved except through
the conversion of a multitude of illiterate and superstitious
peasants to a radically new outlook and way of living. This last
is the crucial point; for such wholesale conversion of millions is
loaded with incalculable possibilities; no body knows how it could
be done quickly enough to overtake the threat of famine; nobody
knows what effect it might have on those people's beliefs, habits
or aspirations; nobody can weigh up the ethical rights and
wrongs of the proceedings. 3 Similar remarks are pertinent on the
control of population growth: the contraceptive methods of the
West are difficult and expensive for relatively primitive peasants;
in any case they involve problems of instruction and overcoming
traditional habits (quite apart from religious scruples) which are
formidable to the point of intimidation. 4
1 G. Gorer, Exploring English Character (Cresset Press 1955), p. 48.
2 The Observer, 1o.8.5z, quoting Prof. Arthur Lewis in District Bank Review,
September 195 I.
3 Cf. Year Book of Education for I9J4 (Evans).
'See, for example, World Population and Resources (Allen & Unwin for P.E.P.,
1956).
7
 The Challenge of the Present Situation
Again, in the world as a whole industrial production is rising
faster than the output of raw materials. Since 1937, for example,
the former has risen by 44 per cent but the latter only I I per
cent. 1
These figures announce plainly that, though Britain may have
favourable interludes from time to time, yet by and large the
prices of food and raw materials are likely to rise against us, and
those of our industrial exports to fall, over the next fifty years-
the period for which the children now at school are being pre-
pared. We are likely to have recurrent crises in which our export
industries fail to catch up rising costs of imports and we find
ourselves faced with the necessity of credit restrictions, increased
taxation, even perhaps food-rationing, in order to import enough
raw materials to keep industry at full stretch. The fact that 30 per
cent of ·our national income is derived from foreign trade, as
against I4 per cent in Western Germany, I I per cent in Japan, 5
per cent in U.S.A. and less than 5 per cent in the Soviet Union,
means that we are much more vulnerable than those countries to
adverse changes in world prices.1
It is essential therefore for us to make the best possible use of
our assets, particularly our reservoir of industrial experience.
When we manufacture cars we can earn roughly £6oo per ton of
raw material, whereas when we manufacture jet airliners we can
earn something like £z.o,ooo per ton of raw material. It is highly
desirable that our economy should be geared to the production of
goods that give us the greatest return on our imports, just as the
Swiss have concentrated much of their industrial resources on the
production of watches and clocks.
But such a policy demands a very high degree of flexibility of
mind on the part of everyone concerned with industry. It means
a willingness to explore new types of goods, new techniques of
production, new methods of salesmanship, new markets, and new
approaches to human relationships in industry, on the part both
of management and of labour. Research carried out in the coal
industry reveals an immense amount of discontent and suspicion
among the rank and file, which leads to loss of production. It is
clear that one of the key factors in the economic situation of the
country is a psychological one: the attitude of people in all ranks
of industry to production, to hard work, to innovation and to
1 The Observer, as above.
8
 The Challenge of an Evolving Society
authority. This is the significant point for teachers studying the
economic situation of the country: for they are concerned with the
standards and outlook developed by their pupils while in their
care.

The Fact of Massive Social Change

Our next step is to examine the large-scale changes in social
structure and outlook that have already been mentioned, which
constitute the other aspects of the challenge that faces contempor-
ary Britain. (We are not directly concerned with technical innova-
tions, such as the introduction of telephones and refrigerators.)
There is no need to labour the fact that there have been major
social changes over the last few generations. In the middle-class
family, for example, the position of women has changed out of all
recognition: most girls now expect to take a job after finishing
their full-time education and if they experience struggles these are
not likely to be battles for the right to an independent life but
struggles within themselves between marrying and pursuing a
career. 1 The father in the family is no longer the autocrat of
Victorian times. The children, from being scarcely seen or heard,
have come to be the centre of the family's life; the parents think
less of the children's obligations to them than of their obligations
to the children.
It may, nevertheless, be questioned whether these changes are
associated with any deeper repercussions on our outlook. The
evidence assembled by Halliday 2 and others, however, seems to
leave no doubt in the matter. Their argument can be summarized
in the following form.
Certain physical ailments are psychosomatic, that is, partly
psychological in origin. A mass of evidence has established that
ulcers of the digestive system, technically known as peptic ulcers,
are associated with an anxious type of outlook; coronary throm-
bosis is found typically in highly conscientious individuals.
Whereas the diseases of primarily physical origin-such as
typhoid, scarlet fever, and measles-have declined substantially in
recent decades, those psychosomatic troubles which are linked
with anxiety and nervous strain are on the increase. For example,
in Scotland between 1930 and 1935-which were years of mass
1 Cf. C. Garbett, In an Age of Revolution (Hodder & Stoughton 195 z).
2 J. L. Halliday, Pvchosocial Medicine (Heinemann 1948).
9
 The Challenge of the Present Situation
unemployment-gastritis rose approximately 120 per cent, ner-
vous debility by 100 per cent, and peptic ulcers by 1oo per cent.l
The rates of occurrence of ulcers relative to age and sex have
altered considerably. In 1900 the peak for men was at about the
age of 52 and that for women at about 27, the former being only
half the latter. In 1930, on the other hand, the peak for men had
shifted to 32, that for women to 64, and the former was now
something like four times the latter. 2
Even if the increases have been brought about partly by changes
in diet-for example, the increase in consumption of artificial
preservatives and colouring matter in bread-yet it is difficult to
see how diet could have been responsible for the change in age
and sex distribution. We are therefore faced with substantial evi-
dence that changes in the position of men and women have pro-
duced sufficiently profound effects to alter radically the incidence
of this serious disease.
1 Ibid., p. 6z.
2 Ibid., p. 67.

IO