The debate on improving educational standards never ends. And in this debate I am glad to see it is generally realised that new school buildings and classroom furniture are only a very small part of what matters. Let us consider what is meant by giving a child a good education in the total sense of the word.
Education is important not simply for imparting information about specific subjects but, more importantly, for the passing on of a whole ‘culture’ of learning, attitudes, and behaviour – a variety of distinct ‘languages’ of understanding, including self-understanding. As Michael Oakshott, the English philosopher, writes, “A man is his culture. What he is, he has had to learn to become.”
Good teaching initiates the student into an
