Schools were soon used for ideological indoctrination, and the whole educational system was greatly expanded. Universities were founded right and left ...Here we go again.
Initially, cultural policy was content with limited objectives. It was impossible to remove all 'bourgeois' scholars and teachers from academic institutions at a stroke, as this would have virtually put an end to learning and education. The universities were more subjected to political pressure than the research institutes ... There is naturally less strict control over bodies that are not engaged in teaching the young ...
Professorial chairs were assigned to politically reliable individuals ... The enrolment of students was subjected to class criteria so as to exclude 'bourgeois' applicants, i.e. children of the old intelligentsia or the middle class. Stress was laid on 'vocational' education, in opposition to the old idea of a 'liberal' university with a fairly flexible curriculum. The object was to prevent the creation of an intelligentsia in the old sense, i.e. a class of people who wished not only to be skilled in their own profession but to enlarge their horizons, to acquire an all-round culture and form their own opinions on general topics ...
The intensity of political pressure varied in different fields. At the outset there was practically no coercion as far as the content of natural science was concerned; in the humanities it was strongest in ideologically sensitive areas, namely philosophy, sociology, law, and modern history.
* Main Currents of Marxism, Vol.3, pp47-48, my emphasis.
3 comments:
Excellent post. And there were other familiar developments. As you have said, the utopians nowadays understand that it's not always the best strategy simply to suppress an institution or idea: offering a replacement version (as with religion) can be far more effective.
...Their plan has worked, too: most live under the ever-increasing influence of this ideology whilst believing it to be long dead...
What countries other than Britian try this sort of imposed "fairness" on university entrance (I assume that is what you are getting at)? The only one I know of is Sri Lanka, whose recent history is hardly encouraging!
The UK is infested with "egalitarian" mechanisms while India and China forge ahead by encouraging and lauding excellence and merit.
Britian should unhook itself from the EU anchor and become the HK of Europe with a competitive tripartite educational system (academic, vocational, creative).
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