Studying School Subjects: a guide
Conclusions, Complexities and Conjectures
In summary the politics of the school curriculum and the predominance of the academic tradition present the dominant interests in our society with a classic contradiction. The academic subject curriculum undoubtedly works smoothly to educate a meritocratic minority although meanwhile disenchanting the majority. The social class status quo is thereby preserved along with the requisite ratio of managers and workers. But the price to be paid is high for managers as well as workers. The academic curriculum renounces practical relevance and industrial and technical skills. To succeed in the educational system our future managers must share this renunciation. Not surprisingly our educational priorities are reflected in our management teams: most are high-status academic specialists, few have technical or engineering skills. A recent report, after noting the large numbers of engineers among West German and French managers, commented that in England 'too few of our graduates go into industry and those that do tend to have an irrelevant educational discipline[i].
Given the academic curriculum to which managers owe their success this industrial illiteracy is an inevitable corollary. The academic curriculum produces industrial illiteracy for its successful minority, pervasive disenchantment for the majority. How much longer such an educational recipe will be deemed suitable in a country on the verge of economic crisis and social conflict remains to be seen.
[i] 'The Times', 14 February 1978.
