State education is not as good as what went before
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| Author: Patrick Crozier |
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in the UK at least.
First of all, a brief history of state involvement in education. There was some state subsidy of schools starting in the 1830s. In 1870 the Forster Act established a system of state elementary schools. In 1944 the state further extended its powers (not quite sure how but I think it involved an expansion into secondary schools). In the 1960s the state massively expanded its subsidy for university education.
The key date is 1870. That was the big one.
Secondly, I should state my terms. I am not arguing that people today are worse educated than they were in 1870 - well, not yet I am not. What I am arguing is that given a much poorer society, our ancestors did a much better job.
I think state education is not as good as what went before 1870 because:
- in 1870 almost all children (over 90%) were receiving 5 or more years of full-time education and literacy rates were extremely high. It was also expanding (as James Bartholomew points out) at a great rate.
- It is debatable whether literacy is any higher now than it was in 1870
- in recent years we have heard tales of:
- O Level questions appearing on A Level papers.
- employers frequently complaining that job applicants can't spell.
- discipline seeming to have collapsed (in some places).
- inequality growing as better-off parents move into the catchment areas of the better schools.
Q&A
So, we have had state education for well over a hundred years and we have also seen a massive increase in wealth. Perhaps, those two facts are related?
- It's possible but we shouldn't forget that there had been an enormous (and pretty much unprecedented) increase in wealth before 1870. That is why schools were expanding so quickly (because parents had the spare cash to send their children to them). It is quite possible that our economies have continued to boom despite state education
References
James Bartholomew (2004). The Welfare State We're In. Politico's Publishing. 1842750631.
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